Cunning
by LizzeXX
Summary: Thor/OC - With Hela defeated Thor and Athena must now face an even more deadly foe, Thanos, a cunning titan determined to obtain the Infinity Stones and destroy half of life throughout the Universe. Separated from each other, Thor and Athena may find themselves with many more dangerous struggles. When secrets are kept, what will it mean for the Avengers? Sixth in the Heroic Hymns.
1. A Past Come Back to Haunt

A/N: Hey there! :) This is the **sixth story** in my Thor/OC series, the Heroic Hymns, Cunning. The first, third, and fifth story (Humility, Strategy, and Strength) are listed under the THOR section of this site while the second and fourth story (War and Truth) are under the Avengers, like this one, as it follows the sequence of movies in the Thor series. This is not a Jane/Thor story nor a Thor/Sif one either, but a Thor/OC ;) This is going to be my attempt at working an OC into the Infinity War movie so it will revolve around the events of the movie, but also include some original segments :) This story will be about 10 chapters long, updated daily as best I can manage :)

To give a short description of my OC, Athena: She is a tall woman, pale, with blonde hair that is a bit long and gray eyes. She tends to wear her hair half up, half down, but with a bun in the top half. Her bun has a small stick in it that Thor gave her that is really a very delicate dagger. She tends to wear brown leather armor, a breastplate from her brother, with a coin necklace under it. She has a charm bracelet made by her siblings that she doesn't wear often. For a reference, I picture the OC, Athena, to look something like Rosamund Pike :)

I hope you enjoy! :)

~8~ is a scene break

Disclaimer...I don't own Thor or things from the movie/comic, just my OC and some original aspects...otherwise Infinity War would not have ended in a way that made me cry :)

~8~

A Past Come Back to Haunt

Athena felt like she was at a crossroads, for once in her very long existence unsure of what path to take. Well, that wasn't quite true. She knew exactly where each path would take her, she knew exactly what each path meant, and she knew, especially, which path she should never, ever set foot down. The difficulty was stepping off the forbidden path once she had already set foot on it. She hadn't meant to take that path, honestly hadn't thought it would be there. She had spent so much of her life being so careful, pushing and burying and working towards a new reason for being. She thought she had worked past this, she thought she had pushed past this, she thought she had been _safe_. But she supposed that was the true danger for every warrior out there, arrogance and pride and being far too sure of oneself.

Now she was in quite a predicament and the worst thing was...there wasn't anyone there she could talk to about it.

No, that wasn't entirely true either. She _could_ speak to Thor, or Heimdall, or even Korg if she needed to. But it didn't feel right to do so. This was not their burden to bear, especially not Thor, not after all he had lost already. He didn't need this extra stress. She was the Goddess of Wisdom, she should damn well be able to figure out what to do on her own. She had done it before, pulled herself off this path, she could do it again. She just had to be careful.

She knew what she needed to do, she knew exactly what had to be done in order to turn back. The only problem was...it was impossible to do any of it right now.

She tried to shake her thoughts from her, to focus more on the small dual she was having with the Valkyrie at that moment. But it she couldn't seem to turn her mind away from the dark worries weighing on her.

She had been going stir-crazy, forced to rest by the healers of Asgard, and she needed action, to be doing something more than lazing about. The Valkyrie had, surprisingly, stayed sober for the last few days. The woman seemed to realize, now that she had a clear head, just how rusty she had gotten in terms of her fighting abilities. It appeared that Hela had taken out a large number of Asgardian warriors, soldiers, and guards. A majority of the refugees now housed on that ship were just the average citizens. There weren't many people still there who could fight the Valkyrie in combat without the woman worrying about injuring them. It was different to attack the Scrappers on Sakaar as opposed to her own people she'd sworn to protect.

Thor was busy leading his people, securing their flight to Earth. Heimdall needed to advise him and help tend to the people, Loki was someone the Valkyrie would likely 'accidentally' kill during a duel, and the Gladiators from Sakaar had been forced to fight for far too long, it wouldn't be right to make them fight anymore. Really, it left only Athena who she could turn to to brush up on her skills.

She knew she should have turned the Valkyrie down, in her current state it was very dangerous to pick up a weapon and fight anyone. Even now she was seeing the warning signs, how her thoughts kept drifting, yet it felt like she was still holding the upper hand in her spar against the Elite Asgardian Warrior. The best thing she could have done was to get herself away from other people till she regrouped. But it could not be helped, not in a ship full of refugees, there were people everywhere, she would never be alone long enough to sort herself out.

She didn't want to worry anyone either. While she knew that the Asgardians accepted her as Thor's chosen partner, their future Queen, as one of them, she knew there was always going to be a distinguishing factor in the back of everyone's mind. After the Dark Elves had attacked it had somehow gotten out to the people that she was not Asgardian. They all were now aware she hailed from Olympus. For all her sacrifices for Asgard, after saving their Queen, after nearly giving her life for their prince, they accepted her with all their hearts. But in her own mind, she felt like she still needed to prove herself worthy, to prove she could take care of the people and be a strong leader. Right now, with the state of things, with having lost their home and not having anywhere to call a safe haven, she felt like she needed to lead by example. The people needed her and Thor especially to be strong for them, to show there was hope and nothing to worry about. If any of the people realized she was struggling to cope with the aftermath of the battle with Hela...it would only serve to worry them, and once large groups of people grew worried or frightened, bad things always happened.

She could handle this, she told herself, and she knew she could. She had done it before she could do it again, she just kept repeating that to herself. It was just a little more difficult this time. She was alone yet not alone. Being surrounded by people who were not her family made things difficult. But she did not turn her back on the people, she could not abandon them, she just needed to work out a way to fix herself before things got out of hand. They were only a few days away from Earth, she knew, if she could just keep everything together until they got to Earth she could find some excuse, some reason, to step away from the people for just a moment, just long enough to sort herself out.

She registered a small pain across her arm, glancing down only for a moment to see the Valkyrie had managed a small cut near her right shoulder. It didn't even hurt much. She didn't slow her movements, she didn't shift herself in any way that would indicate pain, she didn't change any movement or tactic that could show some kind of weakness to her enemy. In fact, her arm felt a cross between tingling and numb, like she didn't even register if there was any lingering pain. She saw the wound, she saw the cut and the blood, she knew it _should_ garner some kind of reaction from her. But one never came. In the corner of her eye she could register the Valkyrie's presence and in the back of her mind something was telling her the woman was standing down, drawing back, to show that she hadn't meant to cause harm and wanted to cease their duel to check on the wound. But she was so lost in her thoughts that her body reacted without her conscious thought, and she only pushed on, continuing the duel with the warrior. It seemed to take the Valkyrie by surprise, which a larger part of her mind told her was exactly what she needed. Never let your guard down, always expect the unexpected, and so she went on the attack.

She recognized the sensation filling her, how eager she was growing for the battle, wanting that rush of adrenaline that came with combat and the focus that came with stopping at nothing until you were victorious.

It had been buzzing beneath her skin ever since the battle on the Rainbow Bridge. It was like once her mind had been opened to the battle, to fighting all of those Undead soldiers one after another, she just couldn't shut it off. She had been so locked in, so focused, that it was like she could think of nothing else except for fighting some more. It was the power that had rushed through her every time she felled one of those soldiers, she couldn't get enough of it.

And that was what was so dangerous about picking up a sword and sparring with anyone so soon after. But here she was, and if someone wanted to fight her, they were going to lose.

She lost herself in the motions: blocking, parrying, swiping, pushing, the sound of metal against metal ringing in her ears. It was as though that was the only sound she could hear, the sound of her sword clanging against the Valkyrie's dragonfang. And, just like on the Bridge, her world narrowed down to this battle, nothing else mattered, just her and her enemy.

It was only when a sound that was certainly _not_ metal against metal rang out that she felt her world expanding once more, her attention and her consciousness returning to her, and she could see more than just her opponent before her.

Somehow she had gotten the Valkyrie against wall, the woman's sword on the ground, and she had her own sword pressed right against the Valkyrie's neck, a faint line of blood dripping from the edge of the blade where it was cutting into the skin.

Instantly Athena backed away, dropping her arm from the Valkyrie, putting her hand down, unwilling to let go of her blade even after the shock she felt at besting her enemy in this battle...no, she shook her head, it wasn't a battle, it was a spar and the Valkyrie wasn't her enemy, she wasn't her opponent, she was a friend.

And she had almost sliced the woman's head off without realizing.

"I certainly understand why you are the Goddess of Battle," the Valkyrie offered, actually cracking a smile despite how her one hand went to her neck and wiped at the blood that was dripping there, "That was the best dual I've had in a very long time. You certainly don't hold back."

"Sorry," Athena spoke quietly, panting just a little bit.

She could feel the strain that the spar had had on her now, now that she had had a moment to process everything. She was panting and out of breath, her heart racing though she didn't know if it was truly the result of the spar or something else. She could feel the slight sting on her shoulder from the wound, but, just like before, it didn't feel like a true pain more an annoyance. Her body was a cross between tingling with exhaustion and feeling stronger than ever, as though ready for the next fight yet worn and weary at the same time. A pleasant sort of exhausted from such a workout.

"I just...I haven't been feeling quite like myself lately," was all Athena could offer as an explanation for her behavior.

The Valkyrie actually seemed amused by that, grinning, "If that's you when you're off your game, I can't wait to spar against you when you're at full power."

Athena forced a smile on her face, starting to doubt herself. The Valkyrie didn't seem shocked or concerned or frightened by her and the duel they just had. Maybe it was all in her head, maybe she was making a bigger thing out of this than it really was. It had to be, the Valkyrie had only _just_ started to trust her, if she truly thought something was off or wrong or that there was something terrible about Athena the woman would have said it. Especially after getting herself thrown into a wall with a sword at her throat, but it didn't seem to alarm the warrior. She seemed quite impressed instead.

It made Athena feel as though her concerns were truly just all in her head, it made her feel reassured.

"Give me a few more days," Athena told her.

The Valkyrie leaned over to pick up her fallen sword, pointing it at Athena in a playful manner, "I'm going to hold you to that."

Athena watched as the woman moved over to a small crate, that had pitcher of water and a few cups sitting on it, grabbing herself something to drink that wasn't alcohol.

Athena sighed and moved to go sit on another crate on the other side of the room, putting her sword to rest on the ground against the crate by her leg and rubbing her forehead with her right hand. She swiped her hand down her face, resting it by her mouth for just a moment as she looked across the room at the Valkyrie. Her gaze flickered back down to her sword, where there was still a small streak of red on the edge of the blade from where it had drawn blood on the Valkyrie's neck. As much as she truly wanted to believe that she was just making something out of nothing and that there was nothing to worry about, she couldn't help but feel on edge.

She rested her elbows on her bent knees, hunching forward just a little as she tried to get her breathing under control. She was trying very hard to look at everything logically, to come up with any other explanation for what happened on the Rainbow Bridge and also just now during her spar with the Valkyrie. But there was only one thing that kept coming to mind. She shifted her head just slightly, her gaze drifting down to her left hand. It was wrapped in a series of cloth strips. Thor had been slightly concerned when he had seen it, when she had gone in to meet with him for a moment just to tell him that she would be sparring in this room with the Valkyrie should he need to find her. She had smiled and waved it off, saying she had merely wrapped it because she was going to be sparring with the Valkyrie and didn't know if it was to be a spar with fists or with swords. Many warriors would often wrap their hands when they were going to be sparring like this. She had taken care to wrap her right hand as well when she had first gone to visit Thor. But once she had realized the Valkyrie wanted to spar with their swords she had unwrapped her right hand so she could better grip the sword handle.

Now that she was looking at her left hand, she felt her heart starting to race once more. She could worry about this all she wanted, she could try to convince herself that things were not happening, but the proof of it was there just under the cloth. Her lips pursed as her jaw tensed, still staring at the cloth wrapped around her hand. She didn't want to look, she didn't want to check, but she knew she had to. There was only one way to learn whether or not her spar with the Valkyrie had helped or hindered her.

She glanced over across the room at the Valkyrie once more, but the woman was merely taking another cup of water to drink, distracted for the moment. She took a deep breath and reached out to undo the wrappings on her hand, her gaze fixed on the skin that was slowly being revealed. She felt the breath leave her lungs, when exactly what she was afraid to see appeared on her skin.

Right in the middle of her palm was a gray patch of skin.

It wasn't a disease, wasn't an injury, it wasn't an infection brought about by a wound. Some might look at it and think nothing of it, that perhaps it was just a dry patch or some sort of skin discoloration. But she knew it wasn't that, it almost looked like a circle in the palm of her hand, just half an inch away from reaching the edges of it at the moment. It was noticeable, in the shade of gray that it was compared to her skin. For being a warrior one would think her skin would be quite tan, being outside on the fields of battle or training with the other warriors. But she had always been quite pale, which only serve to make the gray tone of her skin stand out.

It was a horrifying to her to see that color on her hand, but as she stared at it she knew her body language and her expression would not mirror that to anyone that might glance at her in that moment. That fear and disgust that came with seeing it would be well hidden. Instead she was sure she appeared to just be staring at something with a blank expression, almost as if she were lost in thought...and perhaps she was.

Inside her mind was racing at the implication of what this could mean. She had first seen the spec of color when she had woken to find herself lying on a bed wrapped in Thor's cloak with the man kneeling before her missing an eye. She had reached up to touch the side of his face and, in the moment when he had pulled away to stand, she had caught a glimpse of it on her palm and felt as though her entire world was crashing down around her. She had hidden that fact, focusing on Thor, on how he was now about to take his place at the king of his people. A small splotch on her hand was nothing compared to the loss he and his people had suffered.

And it was so _small_ then. It truly had looked like just a speckle, like the smallest splattering of dirt or mud that had perhaps dried on her hand. She managed to hide it quite well, standing before Thor and his people she was sure to keep her hands clasped together in front of her. Surely the only sign that there was anything wrong was the way she wrung her hands together, rubbing her thumb against the palm of her hand as though it would wipe away the gray. If she had hoped that wiping and rubbing at the splotch would make it disappear, she had been quite wrong. After this spar with the Valkyrie it had only grown larger.

It was why she desperately wished to get away from the other Asgardians, to just have that moment alone to recenter herself. Being so constantly surrounded by other people, it was too tempting, being in front of them as their Queen was not helping.

"You alright?" a voice spoke.

Athena quickly curled her hand into a fist, bringing it to her lap as she looked up, straightening, to see the Valkyrie approaching her, but not having been close enough to see what she was staring at. She offered the woman to smile, "Yeah. I was just thinking about how lucky we were to defeat Hela. She was able to destroy Thor's hammer with a single hand."

It was, quite possibly, the _worst_ excuse she had ever come up with in her life. But at the moment it was the only thing she could think about that would explain or justify why she was just staring at her hand.

The Valkyrie didn't seem to notice as she was nodding, "I wish Odin would have been as wise as Thor," the Valkyrie spoke, before laughing a little to herself as she added, "I suppose that was your doing though."

"I'm just an adviser," Athena told her, "Thor worked it out even before me."

"I wonder if Odin knew," the Valkyrie had to wonder, "If he knew that destroying Asgard destroy Hela, why didn't he just destroy Asgard and move us all to a new area. He had conquered the other Realms by that point. He could have found a home anywhere."

"It is always difficult to leave home," Athena remarked, "It's even harder to leave the place where you hold the most power."

"You did it," the Valkyrie reminded, for once sounding truly impressed with Athena, "You and your family left."

"You've been talking to Thor?" Athena looked up at her, not entirely sure exactly when the Battle of Asgard had happened the first time against Hela. She wasn't quite sure exactly what the Valkyrie knew of the Olympians after the Dark Days or if she only knew them from that time. The Valkyrie had seemed to greatly mistrust her at first, and rightly so given what she knew.

"Perhaps," the Valkyrie shrugged, not exactly answering Athena's questions about what she may or may not know, "It was a very brave thing," the Valkyrie decided, "If you could do it, Odin should have been able to."

Athena could hear the clear resentment in the Valkyrie's voice when she thought of Odin. She could understand though, the woman had lost all of her friends, her home, perhaps even someone she loved dearly because of Odin's decision to let Hela free instead of stopping her before she grew out of control.

"It was very brave to go back," Athena countered with a pointed look to the Valkyrie, "Don't think I don't know how difficult it was for you. Words can never express how grateful I am that you chose to help us. And I know it means a lot to Thor that one of the Valkyrie believe in him as well. To have lost respect for the throne because of what Odin did, but then to find it again in his son?" Athena shook her head, "Despite everything, I think it was just the sign he needed that his reign would begin with hope."

The Valkyrie cracked a small smile for Athena's words, "Thank you, your majesty."

"Oh don't start calling me that now," Athena mock-begged her in jest, "Tina would be better than that."

It was a joke, they both knew, she had been very clear just how much she had hated when people called her Tina on Sakaar. But it served its purpose in lightening the mood that had settled upon them. Things were going to be very serious just outside the door, with all of the refugees gathered and crowded and waiting till they reached Earth. It was good to still be able to laugh.

And even as Athena sat there with her hand still clenched into a fist, it gave her hope that things would still work out in the end.

Athena had just stood up, about to go get some water of her own, when the ship shook with a violent motion.

"What the hell was that?" the Valkyrie shouted, looking around.

Athena looked up as alarms started blaring, "We're under attack," it was the only explanation.

The Valkyrie ran back across the room to grab her sword, Athena quickly rewrapping her left hand and grabbing her own sword as they rushed for the door. It was chaos just on the other side, Asgardians running down the hall, the ship shaking once again, worse.

Athena pushed her way through the frantic Asgardians as gently as she could, heading for one of the larger windows she could make out just at the end of the hall. She knew this particular window faced the back of the ship which, she assumed, would be the direction the attack was coming from. Had the attack come from the front, Heimdall or Thor or someone would have seen it approaching and sounded the alarms before they could get a strike on them. The sight that greeted her was one she had hoped would not happen when they began this journey. She and Thor had known journeying through space with such precious cargo aboard would be a very dangerous feat. They had hoped they would reach Earth before they encountered any other danger.

Clearly the danger had come to them.

There was a massive ship just behind them, far larger than any ship they had seen before. Athena had seen her fair share of ships, the Chitauri ships, the Dark Elves, the Grandmaster's storage unit, but this would put them all to shame. It was enormous and fast and heading straight for them, she could already see lights on either side of it powering up, ready to deal them another blow. Their ship had shields, according to the computer systems, but the ship had never been intended to leave Sakaar to travel far, so very powerful shields were not necessary, not for the Grandmaster who was in control of everything. The ship coming upon them was certainly not one of the Grandmaster's, it was clearly another enemy.

"Brace yourselves!" the Valkyrie shouted back at the Asgardians as the two light beams on the other ship converged and fired right at them, shaking the ship even harder than before. The shields wouldn't hold much longer, that much was obvious.

The moment the ship had stabilized enough for them to stand, Athena spun around and yelled out to the Asgardians, "Get to the life rafts!" she ordered.

She began to lead her way through the Asgardians, shouting to any who could hear her to follow her, the Valkyrie shouting from behind them to lead the way as well. It was something she had looked into as soon as she was able, examining and determining exactly what protections this ship could offer. According to Loki and the Valkyrie, the Grandmaster had this ship as a life raft in and of itself. It had been built and constructed with the intention of escape from Sakaar. While the Grandmaster had been all-powerful, he had always been cautious as well, somewhat paranoid. Korg and his failed revolution were not the first ones to try and take place, nor was it the only one to fail. But there had been other revolutions that had not, ones that had succeeded...or succeeded for at least a little longer. If ever the day came where the Grandmaster lost control of his people or his planet, he needed to be able to escape, and not only that, but to survive until he could find sanctuary somewhere else. With all the wormholes around the planet, the Grandmaster had to have a few picked out that would lead him close to a safe planet.

The ship had been constructed as a life raft, but also with its own smaller life rafts included. If the Grandmaster could be attacked on his own home planet, there was no saying he couldn't be attacked traveling through space in his escape. If he was attacked, he would need to find a way to escape his ship undetected. The schematics for the ship indicated that there were two main life rafts located on either side of the ship. If her calculations were correct, it could hold almost all of the Agardians, they just had to get the people onto the boats.

She ran up to the entrance of one life raft, slamming her hand on the panel on the wall to open the doors, "In, in, in!" she shouted to the Asgardians. She looked over to the Valkyrie bringing up the rear, "There's one on the other side," she told the woman, "Get them in and then get in with them."

"What?" the Valkyrie demanded, striding up to her, "I'm _not_ leaving."

"Thor is never going to abandon this ship while there are still people on it," Athena told her quickly, "And I can't leave him, I can't let them lose their King again. But they are going to need someone with them to make sure they're safe wherever they go," she reached out to grab the Valkyrie's arm, making sure she looked the woman in the eye, letting her know that this was not a request from a fellow warrior, but a command from her future Queen, "I am trusting you with their lives."

The Valkyrie gave her a firm look, not happy with the order, but understanding the reasoning behind it, "Let's go everyone!" the Valkyrie shouted, "In, get in," she continued to call even as she started to walk backwards and then run down the other hall heading for the second life raft and grabbing any Asgardian she could find on the way.

"Korg!" Athena called, seeing the gladiator rushing up with Miek under his arm, "Korg, I need you to stay with this life raft," she told him, "The ship is under attack and this may be the only means of escape, I need you to make sure they're safe."

"You can count on me, boss," Korg told her, taking her place next to the door and ushering Asgardians in.

When she saw that the people were being tended to, Athena turned and started to run, heading for the front of the ship, where she knew Thor would be in the command room. She ushered any Asgardian she passed back towards the life rafts. She burst into the command room, seeing a handful of Asgardians still there, some men and women, likely those who refused to leave their King, there was Loki, Heimdall, Hulk, and Thor as well, standing near the front, "Thor," she shouted, rushing up to him, "I've sent the others to the life rafts."

"Good, good," Thor reached out and pulled her closer to him when the ship shook once more, the worst yet.

It wasn't even a few moments later, that they saw the life rafts breaking off of the ship, quickly flying away from the attack. Thor stood, solemn, as he watched his people fleeing, hoping everything would be alright and they would be able to meet up once more. The life rafts should be shielded and cloaked as well, which appeared to be working as the ship attacking theirs hadn't turned its fire on the life rafts.

There was another large crash behind them, alarms of a different sort starting to blare, the machinery going mad around them and indicating that part of the ship had been destroyed in the last blow. One of the alarm started blinking...the shields were down, one more blow and they would be finished.

"May Odin protect us," Thor murmured to himself, when the ship that had been behind them drifted in front of them, turning to face them once more. Athena reached out and grabbed his hand tightly, seeing the familiar lights blaring on the ship as it powered up to send out one finishing blow...

A/N: Woo! I wanted to have a little bridge chapter from the end of Strength/Ragnarok to now, so I hope you liked a bit of the Athena-Valkyrie bonding :) I know there was some sort of director commentary about Valkyrie's fate, but I haven't seen it because then I can keep pretending she's alive even if they say she's not, so I'm just going with what I think happened. Thor mentioned Thanos only slaughtered HALF his people so I assumed some had to have escaped...and if Thor wasn't with them, someone else must be to protect them, Valkyrie :)

I am SO excited for this story you have no idea, quite a few people are going to be quite sneaky and cunning in this story }:D

Just putting this here because I've promised my sister I would tell people about it, I made a page called ko-fi, where people can show support of a person by contributing a 'cup of coffee' to them. It's not a real cup of coffee, it's a donation that is roughly the cost of a cup of coffee, or about 3 dollars. The link is up on my profile or on my tumblr's LINKS page if anyone is interested. There's no obligation, requirement, or commitment, it just sort of feels to me like a little 'let's talk about your work over a cup of coffee' ;)

Some notes on reviews...(from the end of Strength)...

I understand :) It was a little harder for me to get Athena just right in Ragnarok mostly because I felt like the movie itself didn't really fit correctly in the Thor saga. We had 4 movies of a very specific characterization of Thor that was really different than what we got in Ragnarok, so it was hard to try and get Athena in there when Thor himself felt OOC in canon :/ Athena definitely made up a large role in the last part of the story with how she handled the undead army and it is something that is carrying over here. Athena is going to have a very large role in this story, but I don't want to give away too much ;) I didn't want to do a makeover for Athena mostly because I didn't want her to have one just because Thor got one and also because, in my head, she'd be getting one in a different future story ;) And no worries, I never let reviews stop me from continuing stories, I just use them as motivation to do better next time and I hope you'll enjoy where this story goes ;)

Oh the wedding between Thor and Athena...I have plans for that };) But lol, I could have definitely seen Thor try to pull a Will and Elizabeth, yet at the same time I could also see him be like 'no, we need a proper wedding' too :) I mention a bit of Medusa in the Truth story ;) It's not a tale Athena looks back to with happy memories though :(

I am definitely a fan of Thor's new look, even his lost eye grew on me, a nice parallel to his father as king but with him being a different king than Odin :) So far the updating is going well, we'll have to keep our fingers crossed it stays that way :)

I can say Athena has plans to try and get Olympus open to the Asgardians...but it may not be 100 percent for selfless reasons, but we'll find out her thoughts on it in this story ;) I held out a lot of hope that the Asgardians lived because Thor says at one point that Thanos already slaughtered HALF his people and if he was trying to wipe out half of all life, I can't see it hitting the places he's already been because then it would cut that down TOO much, so I'm going to just stick my fingers in my ears and ignore anyone else that says they were affected by Thanos's actions at the end of the film :)

I can say Hulk won't be alone when he gets sucked to Earth, but I can't say who will be going with him just yet ;) We'll have to wait till tomorrow to find out }:)

We'll actually find out what Tony's codename for Athena is in this story ;)


	2. Sanctuary Lost

Sanctuary Lost

It was absolute chaos aboard the Asgardian Sanctuary ship.

Athena struggled to haul herself onto her feet, gripping her shield and sword tightly, unwilling to let them go. It was a true testament to just how powerful the attack was and how brutal, that it was all a blur to her. Or at least she hoped it was just those facts and not something else that had put everything so fuzzy in her mind. It had happened twice already, where she had been engaged in battle and didn't notice the world around her. Right now, as she gasped for breath, she felt like that once more. It was as though she had been fighting and all she saw was the battle, but now the battle was over and the world was focusing once more.

She did not like what she saw.

She stumbled and fell to her knee, her one leg throbbing, telling her she had injured it at some point during this battle. She stabbed at the floor of the ship with her sword for more balance and forced herself to look up. She must have been dealt a blow to the head at some point though she couldn't recall when, it felt like the world was still spinning around her. It was hard to focus on the room in front of her, to take in exactly what she was seeing and realize it was not a figment of her imagination.

Blasts from the ship had struck them with full power, destroying part of their sanctuary vessel and setting off explosions within the command center. They had all been jostled around, hitting walls and beams with enough force to injure some of the other Asgardians. Their enemy clearly must have anticipated such a thing, for within moments of the strike happening it appeared as though a teleport of some kind had been activated. Before they could even get there bearings enough to pick themselves up from the jostling, there were other people in the room with them. She had only gotten a brief glance at them before they went on the attack.

There was a slim figure, feminine in appearance, an alien but with humanoid features. She was quick and deadly. Another figure merely stood there, looking around and making some motions with his hands as debris and other materials began to float around him. He was gray skinned, wrinkled, with no nose, and gray thinning hair. He was clearly telekinetic, not needing to touch the weapons around him to wield them. He had taken out a great many of the Asgardians who stayed behind, just by sending debris in their direction. Another creature reminded her somewhat of a Dark Elf, brown of skin, with pointed ears, and a fierce scowl on his face. He used his brute strength to crash through the warriors that surrounded him. There was a fourth with them, a large brute who looked more like a troll than anything. And finally, the one who was clearly the leader, for the four surrounded him and fought hard to protect him. Though she doubted this individual actually needed any sort of protection at all. He was large, muscular, purple of skin, wearing golden armor. He didn't appear to have any hair, though there were lines along his chin as though meant indicate some sort of beard.

What truly alarmed her about the larger man, was the gauntlet he wore on his left hand. She had seen something of the sort in Odin's vault, but it should have been impossible for the man to be wearing it given the fact that Asgard had been destroyed. She could not imagine Hela ever allowing someone to take even the smallest of objects from her while she was in control of Asgard. She had little time to worry about how the man had gotten hold of the gauntlet, as her gaze was drawn to something on the back of it that alarmed her even more. There was a stone embedded in the gauntlet, glowing with a purplish-pink aura.

She and Thor had spent enough time searching the universe for the enemy that had been working behind the scenes for so long, that she instantly recognized what the stone was. It could being nothing other than one of the Infinity Stones, The Power Stone. This was the stone said to embody the destructive force of the universe, it could grant its wielder an enormous amount of energy that could manipulate anything in its path. She knew of only one enemy that had been after the stones...and it appeared he had found it. By placing the Power Stone within a conduit such as the gauntlet he wore, it would allow him to utilize its power without fear of the consequences that could come from it. If her research about the Infinity Stones was correct, the man holding the stone could be their most deadly enemy yet. The stone was said to be powerful enough to destroy an entire planet and it would also increase the man's strength and durability. He would be basically invincible to any attack, which explained why he stood there and merely watched as his four henchmen went after the Asgardians that surrounded him.

One of them had come at her and, from that point on, her attention had been diverted from the main threat to the one attacking her. That was where her memory began to blur. She could vaguely recall facing down the slim woman, but holding her own quite well. Something had distracted her though, she couldn't remember what it was at the moment but looking at the state of the ship now she could guess it was likely Thor yelling or noticing the last of the Asgardians who had remained behind falling. Whatever it was, the telepath clearly came to aid the warrior she was facing. She couldn't remember anyone standing in front of her attacking, just object after object, weapon after weapon, flying at her from all directions, even behind her. It would explain how she had been dealt enough blows to drive her to her knees, being unable to see exactly where an attack was coming from. The telepath could just stand there and the next thing she would know something could be hitting her, she would have no warning, no ability to guess what his next move would be without him actually moving.

She did her best to ward off the attack, to use her shield and her sword to block the blows and knock away the debris flying at her. Clearly that had been the minion's intent, to keep her away from the main battle or facing the other enemies. She felt a rage bubble inside her when she realized they had succeeded in distracting her.

She would _not_ make that mistake again.

For now...now she could see exactly what her distraction had cost Thor and his people. It seemed as though every single Asgardian who had stayed behind to aid their king was lying on the floor, dead. All of them had fallen in defense of their king and she couldn't help but feel like it was _her fault_. She was their queen, or intended queen, and she had failed to protect them, too focused on her own battle. Her left hand curled into a fist around the strap of her shield, unable to take her eyes off of each and every Asgardian who rested on the ground. She would not let herself forget a single face of those who lost their lives in this attack, nor would she allow them or their death to be dishonored by not paying them proper respects or attention.

She looked over to the left, hearing a noise, and letting out a breath of relief to see Thor was still alive, as was Loki who was standing further away, surrounded by the four who attacked their people. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the Hulk lingering in the shadows and made a subtle motion with her hand to signal him to wait, needing him to resist until the right time to attack. Her attention snapped forward when she heard a pained breath being taken, her eyes narrowing down on Heimdall who seemed still alive, though gravely injured.

Thor was kneeling where the captain's chair used to be, held down by a massive amount of metal, clearly the work of the telepath. His head was bowed, the only sound in the room at the moment being a transmission that was still locked on repeat and broadcast out into the universe.

"This is the Asgardian refugee vessel. We are under assault, I repeat, we are under assault. Engines are dead, life support failing. Requesting aid from any vessel within range…our crew is made up of Asgardian families, we have very few soldiers here. This is not a war craft, I repeat, this is not a war craft."

Athena couldn't help but shut her eyes and bow her head at the words that were stuck on a loop. The Asgardians were _refugees_ , they had just lost their home, they had no means to protect themselves, and yet they had been attacked by the purple monstrosity before her and his deadly minions. She didn't understand _why_ , though. There was no cause or reason for such an attack to take place. They had nothing, literally _nothing_ of any value that could have been taken save their lives. If this monster was truly searching for the Infinity Stones he had even less reason to be there. These people did not deserve the fate they have been given, for the men and women in the room to have been killed so haphazardly, for the others to flee and be separated once again from family and friend, not sure of the fate of their king or their Kingdom, and needing to rely on gladiators and a Valkyrie for protection from that point on.

The only comfort she could take was in the fact that the life rafts had escaped. The ship that had fired on them was still in the same position, facing them, with no other attacks being directed anywhere else. The ones who were clearly in charge had teleported onto their ship, they had not gone after the life rafts, so there was every hope that the other Asgardians had survived. It would destroy Thor to have lost his family and his hammer and his home, in a desperate attempt to save the lives of his people and the rest of the universe...only to have his people destroyed in such a manner.

It made her ill hearing the part of the message that repeated over and over that they were not warriors, they did _not_ have many aboard the craft. Hela truly had seen to that and it appeared that the only ones aboard who actually knew how to defend themselves were her, Thor, the Valkyrie, Heimdall, Loki, and the Hulk with the Sakaaran gladiators. The ones who had stayed behind, were those loyal to their King. Perhaps they had some sort of fighting experience, but they were not actual warriors of Asgard. And yet their enemy still attacked them.

And now they were all in danger as the message had said. It wasn't just the attack, it wasn't just how beaten-down they were at the moment, the blast against the ship had knocked out far more than just causing explosions or destroying part of the ship. The engines had been destroyed, they were stranded, there was no way they would have made it to Earth regardless. But worse yet, the life support systems had been knocked offline which meant the air in that room was all that was left. The heating would be off, navigation would be off, likely the communications systems were off too. If they didn't find a way to get off of that ship there was a very good chance that they would die in that room.

She looked up a moment later, her grip on her sword tightening as she watched the alien with no nose walking among the bodies of the dead Asgardians. The man had no care or concern for any of them, stepping over them as though they were just garbage left lying on the floor. He didn't look at them, he didn't make any move to try and honor or respect them, instead she was quite certain he was just smirking at them, seeming quite pleased to find them in such a state.

It made her sick.

And she would very much like the pleasure of burying her sword into his heart.

"Hear me, and rejoice..." the alien began.

Athena amended her thoughts, she would very much love to cut his tongue out and shove it down his throat till he choked on it first.

How could the man just stand there and tell them they should rejoice over the destruction they had just caused, the lives they had taken?

She felt herself flinch as a memory forced its way to the forefront of her thoughts, reminding her of a time in her past where she had actually done the same. For she and her family had caused enormous destruction and suffering yet still demanded the praise and worship of those beneath them. But this was not her family, and these were not those days. She had sworn never to allow them to happen again, and whatever this enemy was planning she would stop them.

"You have had the privilege of being saved by the great Titan," the alien began to speak once more, and Athena forced herself to look at him, hoping he might reveal something more of their plans that could help her in the end, "You may think this is suffering. No. It is salvation. Universal scales tipped toward balance because of your sacrifice. Smile, for even in death, you have become children of Thanos."

Athena's eyes narrowed asshe took in his words. Truly this enemy was either quite stupid to reveal so much of his plans to an enemy of his own, or was so arrogant he didn't care who knew what his plans were. She was not only a goddess of wisdom, but the goddess of battle, what's more the goddess of battle strategy. If anyone could work out an enemy's strategy or plans it was her. And this malicious orator had just give it away everything.

Universal scales tip toward balance because of your sacrifice? Clearly this was a man who was setting out to do something not just to other people or even a planet or two, but the entire universe and all the realms. Tipping the scales towards balance for sacrifice, that implied something needing to be even. A life for a death, a death to save a life. Balance. It was the sacrifice part that was truly sticking out to her. Whatever this man's plan was he was clearly intending to sacrifice something or someone in an even amount to save the other half. But that would be impossible, she tried to argue with herself, on a universal scale talk of that sort meant...wiping out half the life in the universe.

Her gaze drifted back to the gauntlet the titan was wearing, Thanos as he had been revealed, already holding one of the Infinity Stones. The only thing that might be able to do what the man planned to do on such a large scale would be to gather all of them together. And he already had one.

She forced her gaze away, flickering to the four minions that surrounded Thanos. The speaking alien had revealed who they were when he had held his arms wide at the four of them, the Children of Thanos. Whether they were truly his children or not meant little to her, the titan hadn't corrected the man. And the proud look on the purple one's face for such a title made her think he truly did view the four of them as his children. That had to make the speaking one Ebony Maw, for she was familiar with the famed and deadly Children of Thanos. Whispers she and Thor had heard on their previous quest. That meant the female was Proxima Midnight, the Dark Elvish one Corvus Glaive, and the brute Cull Obsidian though he sometimes went by Black Dwarf too.

Athena tried to pick herself up once more, managing to take two more steps, before a large piece of debris went flying at her from the side and struck her down, leaving her lying on the floor with a heavy beam resting on top of her. She let out an agonized cry from the sudden weight putting pressure on what she was sure was an open wound on her back.

"Athena!" Thor shouted, struggling within the metal barrier that surrounded him, trying to get to her, trying to check on her, but he couldn't break through.

Thanos let out a soft chuckle when Thor turned a glare on him, "I know what it's like to lose," he told the Asgardian king, "To feel so desperately that you're right, yet to fail nonetheless," Athena panted when Thanos turned his sights to her, "If the stories about you are correct, I imagine you can understand better than him."

Athena glared at him, as though willing daggers to fly from her eyes and destroy the purple monster that stood before her. It was alarming that Thanos seemed to know who she was, her past, but a part of her reasoned it was understandable. She and Thor had been partners for so long, if someone was trying to find any of the Infinity Stones, the chances were they had heard about their involvement with a few of them. Any enemy looking to win would always need to understand the forces against them in order to succeed.

It shook her slightly to know that he seemed aware of the Dark Days though, but even more that he seemed to understand exactly what she and her family had felt during those days. She had only ever explained it in terms of becoming corrupt by the power and hold they had over the humans, only ever described it in terms of being ashamed of reaching that point. But there was always more to it than that. At that point she and her family _had_ thought it was only right that they hold such a role, and in the first few moments of their retreat to Olympus, there had been a sense of failure, that they had been strong enough that they should have seen their plans through. It had faded by now into a deep shame, but the memory of it was still there.

And she vowed...she would do everything in her power to ensure that Thanos failed as well, for anyone who wished to use their power to harm, was never ever in the right.

"Let him go!" Athena hissed at Thanos when the Titan strode over and grabbed Thor by the back of his head. She tried to turn on her side and use all her strength to lift the beam off of her, but her arm was at an odd angle and she couldn't get her full strength behind it, "Loki, do something!" she cried to the trickster to step up.

Thor had told her about how Loki had come back, how he could have used the Commodore to escape and go anywhere in the universe he wanted, but he chose to return to his people and his brother. And, despite being alone with Thor a few times, he hadn't tried to kill his brother or seize the crown since then. As much as she didn't want to admit it, it _did_ give her a sense of hope that perhaps Thor could have his brother back, for she knew how important he was to Thor, especially now that he had lost the rest of his family and his home.

But Loki was just standing there, _doing nothing_.

"It's frightening," Thanos spoke to Thor, crouching down a little so Thor was in his line of sight, "Turns the legs to jelly. I ask you to what end? Dread it, run from it, destiny arrives all the same. And now it's here…or should I say I am."

"You talk too much," Thor muttered though he couldn't help the small grunt of pain that came when Thanos refused to release his skull.

The titan shook his head and turned to Loki, holding out his other hand, "The Tesseract, or your brother's head. I assume you have a preference?"

Athena's attention snapped back to Loki, shaking her head and hoping that the titan was wrong. As far as she knew the Tesseract had been kept in Odin's Vault, she had assumed that Hela had destroyed it. The woman seemed to loathe Odin and had taken enormous pleasure in destroying everything else that the man had owned or created. She did not think the objects in his fault would be ignored. Even if she hadn't, the Tesseract had been in the Vault on a very much destroyed Asgard. But if the Titan was turning to Loki for it, it must mean that he thought the trickster had it with him.

As much as much as she didn't want to believe that Loki had taken it again, a part of her would not put it past him. That _had_ been the entire focus of the Battle of New York, Loki using the Tesseract to open a portal to allow his army in. He had gone to Earth specifically to take the Tesseract...and now she was understanding exactly who had likely given Loki the army he'd used. Somehow Loki had come in contact with Thanos in the past, when he first fell off the Rainbow Bridge. They must have struck up some kind of deal, where Loki would return the Tesseract to him in exchange for the Army to conquer Earth.

But after all that had happened, there shouldn't have been any way for Loki to know Thanos hadn't been defeated by someone else or that their deal would still be in effect. She could guess Loki may have taken the Tesseract from the vault, as a bargaining chip, in case Thanos was still out there and seeking the Infinity Stones. But it still left the question of how Thanos knew Loki was _there_. She truly did not want to think that Loki had contacted the man, she didn't think it would be possible for him to, especially not on the ship, not with Heimdall right there or the Valkyrie not trusting him. The only thing that made sense to her was that Thanos was tracking it and knew it was on the ship.

She didn't know which was worse, the thought that Loki had intentionally contacted the man to draw him to the ship or that, by taking the Tesseract in the first place, he had led the man right to them unintentionally.

"Oh, I do," Loki smirked in response to Thanos's question, briskly waving his hand, "Kill away."

"No!" Athena screamed when Thanos turned the gauntlet to press the Power Stone right to Thor's temple, causing him to scream in pain. She struggled as hard as she could to move the beam, pressing her hands flat on the floor and trying to use them to lift it off her back, by forcing herself up with it. It seemed to be working, but not as fast as she would have liked, and Thor's screams were getting louder and more agonized.

So much so that Loki himself even seemed affected by it, calling out, "Alright, stop!"

Athena glared at the titan as he released Thor, "You are going to die for that," she warned him.

"I'll be sure to cower once you're free," the titan taunted her, smirking at how she was still trapped under the beam.

"We don't have the Tesseract," Thor cut in, if only for a way to draw the attention away from Athena. He could handle whatever pain the titan could bring him, but he would be damned if he let the man lay a hand on Athena, "It was destroyed on Asgard."

"It was in the Vault," Athena reminded him, "Where Surtur's Crown also was."

Thor seemed to realize what she was trying to imply and turned his attention to Loki, "Oh brother, you _didn't_..."

Loki merely pulled the Tesseract out, the cube resting on the palm of his hand and casting a light blue light on the room.

"You really are the worst, brother," Thor murmured, his voice laced with other disappointment.

But Loki gave him a smile, "I assure you, brother, the sun will shine on us again."

Thanos scoffed, "Your optimism is misplaced, Asgardian."

Loki smirked, glancing over at Athena, and giving a subtle jerk of his head towards the shadows where the Hulk was still waiting, the green man able to see her from the angle he was hidden at but not Loki. She returned the gesture with just a careful flick of her eyes to the side, turning her head carefully to make it look as though she were trying to work a way out from under the beam.

"Well," Loki turned his attention back to Thanos, "For one thing, I'm not Asgardian. And for another...we have a Hulk."

Athena quickly swiped her sword arm out, the tip of her blade pointed at Thanos, all the sign the Hulk needed to attack, and attack he did. He emerged from the shadows and dove straight for Thanos, managing to tackle him off to the side and land a swift punch. Athena could see Ebony Maw reach out to stop Corvus Glaive from interfering. Which only served to make her more concerned. She knew the Power Stone would make Thanos quite strong, but she could hope that Hulk's strength would be enough. The fact that Thanos's children were not stepping in to protect him did worry her.

"Let him have his fun," Ebony Maw spoke.

Athena ducked down when the Hulk went flying across the room from a punch from Thanos, knocking the beam off of her. But she stayed down for a moment longer as the Hulk had thrown himself back over her to try and hit at Thanos once more. The Hulk managed to land quite a few blows on Thanos and Athena tried to use that to her advantage, rushing at the man while he was distracted, managing to knock over two of his children on her dash toward him. But with one quick blow dealt to the Hulk, the titan managed to send the green man flying right into her, sending them both across the room and into a wall before she could maneuver herself out of the way.

She groaned and punched her shield arm into the ground, using the pain of it to fuel her into standing once more, turning and lifting her shield and sword to protect the Hulk for he was clearly down and the children of Thanos were moving in to finish him off.

"Forefathers…" she could hear Heimdall speaking and her attention snapped to him, the man weakly reaching out towards her and Hulk, "Let the dark magic flow through me one last time..."

"No!" Athena cried when she realized what he was doing. She tried to take a run towards Thor, the man still trapped, but she was too late as the Bifrost opened around her and the Hulk, sucking them into it.

"Athena!" Thor shouted, struggling even harder in the barrier that held him when he saw her being pulled away from him, not knowing where Heimdall had sent her, but infinitely relieved that she was at least out of this danger.

Thanos shook his head and just strode over to the fallen Asgardian, "That was a mistake."

"No!" Thor yelled when Thanos lifted his sword and stabbed it straight through Heimdall's heart. And, just like that, one of his oldest and dearest friends died before his eyes like so many others had, "You're going to die for that!" he repeated Athena's threat.

Thanos scoffed, "Promises, promises."

Ebony Maw picked up the Tesseract from where it had fallen and held it up to Thanos as though offering a gift to a god, "My humble personage…bows before your grandeur. No other being has ever had the might, nay the nobility, to wield not one, but two Infinity Stones. The universe lies within your grasp."

Thor watched in mounting horror as Thanos crushed the Tesseract with just one hand, opening his palm to reveal the Space Stone, a blue glowing rock, hidden within. The titan admired the stone for just a moment before turning to drop it onto the gauntlet beside the Power Stone.

"There are two more stones on Earth," Thanos remarked before glancing over at his children, "Find them, my children, and bring them to me on Titan."

Proxima Midnight bowed deeply, "Father, we will not fail you."

"If I might, interject," Loki spoke as he stepped over to the small gathering, "If you're going to Earth, you might want a guide. I do have a bit of experience in that arena."

Thanos snorted at that, "If you consider _failure_ experience."

"I consider experience, experience. Almighty Thanos..." Loki continued, moving closer and closer to the man, "I, Loki, Prince of Asgard," he glanced over at Thor meaningfully, " _Odinson_ , the rightful King of Jotunheim, God of Mischief," and slowly began to lower a dagger from his sleeve and into his hand so only Thor could see, "Do hereby pledge to you, my undying fidelity..."

Loki quickly darted his hand out, moving to try and stab Thanos in the neck, but the titan quickly grabbed his arm to stop him, expecting the move, "'Undying.' You should choose your words more carefully."

Thor struggled once more to free himself from the barrier holding him down, seeing the titan grab Loki with his other hand by the neck, choking him and lifting him above his head as he did so.

With his final breath, Loki managed to ground out, "You…will never be…a god."

Thanos shook his head and, with one final squeeze, broke Loki's neck and tossed him on the ground in front of the Thor, "No resurrections this time."

"No, Loki!"

Thor could only stare in horror at the body of his fallen brother as Thanos and his children teleported out of the ship, leaving him alone. He didn't need to see behind him to know that the ship that had attacked their sanctuary was powering up, he could see the lights of their blasters illuminating the room moments before it exploded with him still inside.

A/N: I cried in this chapter :'( I also agonized over whether I wanted Athena with Thor or on Earth, and she fought to stay with Thor, but then Thor and Heimdall ganged up on me and were both in agreement that they'd rather her safe and not in the soon-to-be exploding ship but on Earth because if Thanos was going to go after the Stones, they would need someone as powerful as Thor to be there to help guard them :'( Thor was more 'if I'm going to die, I don't want to take her with me, I want her safe' :(

Some notes on reviews...

Athena and Thor were definitely separated here :( And she's certainly going to have a big part to play in this story, I hope you'll enjoy it :D

It's very sad, I hated myself for tearing them apart like this, but that was also something I'd noticed for a while, they usually are always together or at least know the other is ok while they are apart. Here they're pulled apart and neither will be 100 percent sure if the other is even alive :'( Makes for a way to view how they are on their own :(

So far the AU stories are on hold till I can get my main 5 stories current and updated :( I can't say when they will be resumed, but I'm going to try to update them here and there when I can though :)

The gray is definitely something to watch out for };)

I was debating whether to hold off IW at one point, since it's still out in theaters, but I felt like I just couldn't wait lol :) But thank you! I'm really glad you've enjoyed the stories so far :') Lol, Tony's nickname sort of goes right over Athena's head since she won't be paying full attention to him, but it'll be there ;) And Korg! I loved him, I couldn't bring myself to kill him, the Asgardians would need more protection than just one Valkyrie after all, no matter how BAMF she is ;) Oh the ending, I am zipping my lips about that };) But I can say the wedding will be a very important thing in the series ;)


	3. Strange Allies

Strange Allies

If the situation had not been so serious, the events taking place within the Bifrost would have been quite humorous to witness. While the Hulk had been dealing blows with Thanos and been dealt some severe ones himself, he had not been defeated merely winded. He was still quite conscious even as he and Athena were sent from the sanctuary ship towards wherever Heimdall had determined them to go. For as much as the trip was meant to save the both of them and spare them from Thanos, his children, and their attack, it was _not_ a peaceful journey at all.

"Stop fighting, Tina!" the Hulk was shouting, trying to keep a grip on Athena as the woman struggled, seeming about to try and send herself back the way they had come, though making such a fuss that he was sure if he let her go she'd end up hurled out of the Bifrost completely.

The woman continued to struggle, not wanting to have left Thor on that ship, there was still so much she could have done to help. She had spent that time while struggling to get the beam off of her observing Thanos and his children. She had watched them, she had managed to glimpse at them when they were fighting the other Asgardians. She was sure now that she would be able to face them much better than she had before. She couldn't leave Thor, _she couldn't_ , not there with such an enemy, not with the engines down and the life support failing. She had tried with all her might to get to him in time, but Heimdall had opened Bifrost before she could reach him. She had been sucked into the portal along with the Hulk, and while she knew he had done it to save them, she truly wished he had not. He should have left her there with Thor, he should have left her there to fight. Instead she was now flying across the universe with the Hulk, who refused to let her go to try and return to Thor's side and help.

She only stopped struggling, for just a moment, when she saw something at the end of the Bifrost, back the way they had come. It looked as though the one end of the Bifrost had already closed behind them...and was rushing to catch up to them. She shook her head, not wanting to believe it, "No..." she breathed.

If the Bifrost was coming now to catch up to her and the Hulk, then it meant that Heimdall had either died or closed the Bifrost. It would mean there was no way to get back to Thor in time or at all. And if Heimdall was dead, and that was why the Bifrost was closing behind them, it could mean only one of two things. One was that Thanos's children or the man himself had struck out at Heimdall and finished him...or that the life-support was fully down, and both Heimdall and Thor were now dead.

"Brace yourself!" Athena shouted at the Hulk when she saw the end of the Bifrost closing in on them.

The Hulk grabbed her tightly, curling around her almost protectively, as the end of the Bifrost reached them and seemed to slingshot them even faster towards their destination. They entered the atmosphere of some planet, but they were approaching too quickly to actually see which it was. They tensed, feeling a heat surrounding them and the loud rushing noise of the winds of the Bifrost. And the next thing they knew, they had crashed into something, forming a creator of some sort.

Athena grunted as she rolled onto her side. As much as the Hulk had tried to shield her, it had still been quite a landing. She could feel the wind knocked out of her as she moved to try and get herself back on her feet, only managing to make it onto her knees and use her sword to prop herself up once more. She could have used her sword while in the Bifrost to get the Hulk to let her go, but he was still a friend and she did not want to hurt him. And now it had proven it wouldn't have worked either way, the Bifrost had likely closed right after they'd been pulled in. She sucked in a hard breath as she turned the wrong way and seemed to twist at her ribs, forcing her eyes open so she could see exactly where they had landed.

For a moment all she could really see was darkness and the Hulk beside her, but as she tried to look up she could make out more of where they were. It seemed as though they had fallen through a staircase of some kind, there were boards of wood lying shattered around them. From what she could make out of the ceiling it reminded her of that Doctor Strange fellow and the lair he had invited she and Thor into only a short while ago. If it was that lair, then that would mean they had landed on Earth, which she supposed made sense, given the fact that two other Infinity Stones could be found on the planet. For as wounded as Heimdall had been, he was still conscious and able to hear everything Thanos was saying, he must have worked out what needed to be done. He had sent her and the Hulk to Earth in an effort to protect them as well as the other two Infinity Stones.

As though proving her thoughts, two figures stepped closer to the hole she and the Hulk had made, revealing themselves to be none other than Doctor Strange and another, slightly shorter, a little broader, Asian man. For all his practice of the Mystic Arts, as the man had called it before, Doctor Strange seemed thoroughly surprised to see them, whether it was from their entrance or their presence at all she couldn't guess.

The two men exchanged a look before they focused back down at her and the Hulk, "Alright down there?" Doctor Strange's assistant called down, not sounding at all sure of what he should say in an event like this.

Athena took stock of herself as she forced herself back onto her feet, noting how injured she may or may not have been. Her knee was already feeling better from where it had been injured on the sanctuary ship, her ribs were a little tender, and she felt winded, but quickly enough she could feel all of that fading as other emotions began to fill her. So she didn't answer, instead turning to look over at the Hulk. She may be a goddess and made of much stronger stuff than mortals, and the Hulk may have seemed like an invincible force while they had been battling him as the Grandmaster's champion, but he was still human to a degree. And he was proving it now as the green began fading from the Hulk, his body trembling and twisting slightly as he morphed back into Dr. Banner.

"I don't know," Athena murmured, still watching the Hulk to make sure Dr. Banner would be alright.

"Thanos is coming," Dr. Banner began to murmur as he returned to himself, his skin its normal pinkish color once more, "He's coming...we've got to..."

The two men above them exchanged looks at his words, not sure what to make of it. This was not at all how their day was supposed to go. Doctor Strange himself had been about to step out to get them something to eat from a local deli. They had been having a small joking argument about payment and food, both of them ready to partake of sandwiches when, out of nowhere, Athena and the Hulk had fallen through their ceiling and landed in their staircase. Instantly they had known something must be coming, some danger, for a magic that could breach the Sanctum and deposit two individuals within it without invitation was fearsome indeed. And from what Doctor Strange recalled of the last time he met Athena, she and Thor had been adamant about returning to Asgard, not coming to Earth. From what it appeared, Athena had not willingly come back, it seemed quite like she had been forced there or cast out of somewhere. And from what he knew of the goddess of wisdom and battle, for someone to be able to do that to her, must be something quite big.

"Who?" Doctor Strange asked.

Athena tightened the grip on her sword at the mere mention of Thanos, "The creature I'm going to take great pleasure in tearing to pieces," she told them.

She didn't bother to look up at the men's reaction, instead turning to grab Dr. Banner by the arm and hauling him up. Banner barely had any time to catch his breath from the change in position before Athena had leapt up, taking him with her as she jumped out of the crater they had created.

"What happened?" Doctor Strange asked as Athena stepped away and began to pace within the Sanctum. The woman was clearly agitated and clearly very angry. He had not heard such venom in her voice when she spoke of Loki, who he knew had caused a great deal of stress and danger to the people Athena held dear.

"Odin and Frigga are dead," Athena told the man, not ceasing in her pacing, "And with his death the gates of hell opened and unleashed the goddess of death herself on Asgard. Thor and I were cast out of the Bifrost when we tried to stop her, landing on a planet at the end of the universe where we found the Hulk and another one of Thor's people. We escaped and returned to Asgard, but it had already been laid waste to by Hela. Thor was forced to destroy his home in order to save his people and the universe from her wrath. But our ship was attacked by Thanos," she finally stilled in her pacing and turned to face the two men, "He has possession of the Infinity Gauntlet and two of the Infinity Stones," her gaze narrowed when she saw their reaction, how they stiffened, how they looked at each other. It was clear to her that they were aware of exactly what the Infinity Stones were and exactly why it was such a dangerous thing for Thanos to have even one of them let alone two, "Either he or his Children are coming to Earth for the others."

"He will _never_ get the Time Stone," Doctor Strange swore, and Athena's gaze flickered down to where he was gripping the end of a necklace he wore. With just that movement alone she realized HE was in possession of the Time Stone right at that moment. And while he may think it safe, there was another stone still on Earth that was in far more danger.

"There is another stone on Earth," she told them, "The Mind Stone, guarded by a robotic entity known as Vision," she looked over at Banner for that, "Neither of us have been on Earth long enough or recently enough to know where it is."

"But I might know someone who does," Banner said quickly, "Tony Stark. If we can find him, we can find Vision and the Mind Stone."

Doctor Strange nodded at that, "I can open up a portal right to him and..."

"Um," Banner cut in, fidgeting slightly, "Could I maybe get some clothes first?"

The other three seemed to realize just then that Banner truly WAS quite naked and doing his best to cover his lower regions. Doctor Strange quickly waved his hands around in an odd motion, creating glowing symbols in the air, and, a moment later, a pile of clothing fell, neatly folded, right before Banner.

"Thanks," Banner murmured, quickly gathering the clothing and moving to hide around the other side of the stairs for privacy while he dressed.

"Are there any other Infinity Stones on Earth?" Doctor Strange asked Athena.

"Which stones does he already possess?" Doctor Strange's assistant added.

"He has the Space and Power Stones," Athena informed them, "The Time and Mind Stones are on Earth. From what Thor and I were able to learn in our journey across the universe, the Soul Stone was lost long ago and the Reality Stone is well hidden. So no, there are no other stones on Earth. If we can keep Thanos from getting either of the Time or Mind Stones it gives us more chance of stopping him."

"Wouldn't it be better to find Vision instead of Tony then?" Banner called as he moved around steps to rejoin them, fully clothed.

"You said he was a robotic entity?" Doctor Strange repeated and the two nodded, "The time it would take to find a non-human or even a spell to locate a second Infinity Stone would take much longer than if this Tony Stark knows where your robot is."

"And if Thanos is coming for the stones," Athena added, "If he finds the Time Stone and us in the process of opening a portal to Vision, he would be able to find a second stone as well. We can't let Thanos find either. We will also need as many warriors as possible, Tony IS still Iron Man yes?" she looked over to Doctor Strange, who nodded.

"Right, right, yeah, sorry," Banner agreed, nodding his head as he realized the logic in that, "So how does this portal thing work?"

Doctor Strange just smiled.

~8~

While Tony Stark had not had the easiest last few years, what with his duties is Iron Man and as part of the Avengers, causing some tension between him and Pepper Potts, he could admit things had gotten somewhat better recently. They had, of course, gotten worse first, like when he discovered that the Winter Soldier had been the one to kill his parents all those years ago. Like going head to toe with not only the Winter Soldier but Captain America as well had not been easy. While part of him knew Steve would undoubtedly protect his friend, he had thought himself a friend that at least rated enough to be told the truth of what the Soldier had done as it directly affected HIM. The Avengers breaking up as a result of their falling out had been difficult to bear, but there was no helping it after lines had been drawn between all of them. Facing off the way they had, it really caused him to understand who had his back and who didn't.

The only good thing that seemed to have come out of it was the healing of his relationship with Pepper. He had proposed to her and she got accepted. She wore his Harry Winston on her finger and he was absolutely sure there would be a child in their future as well. It was what he was currently trying to convince her of. He'd had a dream just last night that seemed so real he'd woken up completely convinced that Pepper was pregnant. She kept telling him, though, that she wasn't, that it was _just_ a dream, but it felt so real he just couldn't put it off. He understood her hesitation though, he hadn't exactly been the best person at keeping the promises he made to her. But he was determined to give her this one.

"You know what there should be?" he was saying to her at they walked through the park, "No more surprises. We're gonna have a nice dinner tonight. Show off this Harry Winston. Right? And we should have no more surprises. Ever. I should promise you."

"Yes," Pepper smiled.

"I will," Tony opened his mouth to do just that, to make the promise, when a bright light began to shine just a few feet away from them, expanding into a circle of some sort, before a portal was created in the middle of it.

A man with graying hair and a light beard stepped through wearing a red cape, "Tony Stark, I'm Doctor Stephen Strange. I need you to come with me. Oh, uh, congratulations on the wedding, by the way."

Tony took a step in front of Pepper, automatically on the defensive that this man knew who he was and knew about their plans, "I'm sorry, you giving out tickets or something?"

"We need your help. Look, it's not overselling to say that the fate of the universe is at stake."

Tony frowned at that, suspicious, "And who's 'we?'"

Doctor Strange stepped to the side, allowing Banner and Athena to step through the portal after him, "Hey, Tony..." Banner greeted.

"Bruce?!" Tony actually gaped at the man, completely startled to see him.

"Stark," Athena gave him a brief nod, but said little else.

"Pepper," Bruce waved lightly at Pepper.

"Hi," the woman greeted.

Tony seemed like he was about to say something else, but then he caught sight of the state the two of them were in, how timid and shocked Banner looked, and how beaten down Athena appeared. They both looked like they had come from some sort of warzone, "You ok?" he looked between the two of them.

"No," was all Athena said, turning on her heel and stepping back through the portal.

"What's up with her?" Tony turned to Bruce, but the man could only shake his head.

"You really need to come with us, Tony, now," Bruce responded, looking apologetically at Pepper.

Tony looked at the woman, apology written all across his face, but she merely nodded her assent to him, "Go," she told him, "If we're going to have that child you dreamed about, you better make sure there's a universe for it to exist in."

Tony gave her a wink, before turning to follow Banner into the portal, Doctor Strange close behind.

~8~

"From the dawn of the universe, there was nothing," Doctor Strange's assistant, Wong, spoke as he used his magic to create an illusion across the ceiling of the lair, explaining the situation to Tony, "Then, boom!" the projection suddenly exploded, sending out six very specific colors of light, "The Big Bang sends six elemental crystals, hurdling across the virgin universe. These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence."

"Space, Reality, Power, Soul, Mind, and Time," Doctor Strange added, waving a hand over the bottom of a necklace hanging before his chest, opening it to reveal a green glowing stone that matched one of the stones in the projection just before them.

"The Time Stone," Athena stated, keeping her gaze locked up at the image of the six stones, her focus resting on the purple and blue ones, unable to think of anything besides the two of them now resting on Thanos's Infinity Gauntlet.

"Tell me his name again," Tony spoke.

"Thanos."

"He's a plague, Tony," Banner continued the explanation, "He invades planets. He takes what he wants. He wipes out half the population. He sent Loki. The attack on New York. That's _him_."

"This is it," Tony murmured to himself, before clearing his throat, "What's our timeline?"

"No telling."

"He has the Power and Space Stones," Athena remarked, pointing her sword at the blue and purple stones, "Which means, as of this moment, he is now the strongest being in the universe. We cannot allow him to obtain all six."

Doctor Strange nodded, "He can destroy life on a scale hither to undreamt of."

Tony blinked and turned to look at the man, "Did you seriously just say 'hither to undreamt of?'"

Doctor Strange just scoffed, looking at where Tony was holding one hand on a Black Cauldron on a pedestal as he stretched out his leg, "Are you seriously leaning on the Cauldron of the Cosmos?"

Tony glanced at the Cauldron, "Is that what this is?" he moved to peek into it...when Doctor Strange's cloak acted on its own and slapped him on the arm. He pulled back and turned to look at Doctor Strange, his gaze flickering down to the cape as it moved on its own again, "I'm going to allow that. If Thanos needs all six, why don't we just stick this one down the garbage disposal?"

"No can do."

"We swore an oath to protect the Time Stone with our lives," Wong added.

"And I swore off dairy," Tony rolled his eyes, "But then, Ben & Jerry's named a flavor after me, so..."

"'Stark Raving Hazelnuts,'" Doctor Strange commented.

"It's not bad."

"A bit chalky."

"'A Hunka-Hulka Burning Fudge' is our favorite," Wong remarked.

Banner looked at him with a scrunched face, "That's a thing?"

"If you are all quite done discussing ice cream," Athena cut in, her voice hard with an almost dangerous edge to her voice, "The fate of this universe is literally hanging in the balance. If I cannot rely on you to help me stop Thanos, I will hunt him down myself."

"No one's doing anything solo," Tony shook his head.

"You are _not_ my king," Athena warned him, though it came out as more of a threat, "I do not listen to your orders."

"Good thing I'm not ordering you then," Tony countered, "I'm speaking to you as a friend. The point I was trying to make is that things change. To protect people, things have to change or they get out of hand. We have to do what is necessary to keep this planet safe. And if that means destroying your stone..."

"Our oath to protect the Time Stone cannot change," Doctor Strange cut in, "This stone may be the best chance we have against Thanos."

"And still, conversely, it may also be _his_ best chance against _us_!"

"Only if we don't do our jobs."

"What _is_ your job exactly, besides making balloon animals?"

"Protecting your reality, douche bag."

"Enough!" Athena stabbed her sword into the table next to her.

All of this arguing, all of this banter, it was not helping her focus. She needed to _focus_ , she needed to keep the mission in mind: stop Thanos, keep him from putting the Infinity Gauntlet together. Thor had _died_ for his people, to keep them safe from this monster. His people were still out there in the life rafts, Thanos was still a threat to them. Whether she was Asgardian or not, she considered them her people, she needed to keep them and the others on this universe is _safe_. She didn't have time to mourn, Thanos could be there in a matter of minutes with the Space Stone in his possession, she _had_ to concentrate on how to stop him, _for Thor_.

But it was _so hard_. It felt like everything inside of her was breaking into pieces, starting with her heart. She felt helpless and angry and hurt and lost and all she wanted to do was just breakdown and cry for what she had lost. This was why she had never allowed herself to feel love for another being in such a way, it could so easily be used against her, to weaken her. She had been lucky that no mortal had ever caught her eye, that the other gods in her life were family. She had so carefully guarded her heart...and then Thor fought his way in there. She hadn't realized it happened till it was too late. He was there in her heart and soul, but now he had been ripped from her by Thanos. She felt like she had lost her sword arm, her shield, her spirit, with Thor's passing.

But the words of Tony Stark actually came back to her in that moment.

She may not have been able to save Thor, but she would sure as hell avenge him!

"Ok guys," Banner cut in, seeing how this arguing was getting to Athena, "Can we quick cable this discussion right now? The fact is that we have the stone. We know where it is. Vision is out there somewhere with the Mind Stone, and we have to find him, _now_."

"Yeah, that's the thing..." Tony began.

"What do you mean?"

"Two weeks ago, Vision turned off his transponder. He's offline."

"What? Tony, you lost _another_ super bot?"

"I didn't _lose_ him. He's more than that. He's evolving."

Doctor Strange shook his head, "Who could find Vision, then?"

Tony shrugged, "Probably Steve Rogers."

"Oh, great."

"Maybe. But..."

" _But what_?" Athena turned to him, her grip on her sword still buried in the table tightening as she heard a note of reluctance in his voice.

"Call him," Banner insisted.

Stark sighed, "It's not that easy. God, we haven't caught up in a spell, have we?"

"No."

"The Avengers broke up. We're toast."

"Broke up? Like a band? Like The Beatles?"

"Cap and I fell out hard. We're not on speaking terms."

"This is not a time for petty squabbling!" Athena stated harshly, "Whatever your issue with Steve Rogers is..."

"His best friend murdered my parents!" Tony cut in with a glare, " _That's_ my issue."

Banner frowned, "The Winter Soldier?" he asked, recalling Steve speaking to him before Ultron attacked about the fate of his friend, asking if he might know of any technology or science that could help undo brainwashing, "From when they brainwashed him into an assassin? HE killed your parents?"

"Yes," Tony ground out, not wanting to have to keep hearing that phrase over and over about how his parents were murdered.

"Tony..." Banner began, shaking his head, "You know I'm your friend, and I know how much it hurt losing them, but the guy was _brainwashed_ , he had no control over what he was doing..."

"You sound just like Rogers."

"No, I sound like someone who has some experience with not being able to control themselves," Banner countered lightly, "When I'm the Hulk I can't stop him, he does things and I have no memory of him doing it sometimes. If they found some way to get inside this guy's head and empty it of everything else, I really don't think he could have stopped it."

"That's not the same thing," Tony began to argue.

But he was cut off suddenly by Athena's voice, "The blame ought _never_ be put on those who have lost their wits due to the will of others. THEY are not in control of themselves. Or do you hold Clint Barton accountable? Dr. Selvig?" Athena pointed out to Tony how hypocritical it was that he had accepted Barton back into the fold after Loki took control of his mind yet would not forgive this Winter Soldier. And it wasn't as though she were doing this to be cruel, taking this Soldier's side, she understood the hurt caused by the Soldier was closer to Tony's heart than what Clint or Selvig had done. But she had experience with this, she had CAUSED it at times, her entire family had used humans as their puppets on more than one occasion.

It was never the human's fault.

She could recall a number of times where she or her family did something to the humans that left them little more than mindless slaves. Dionysus and Hera were two examples that stuck out in her mind. The followers of Dionysus could sometimes end up in such a revelry that they would tear people apart limb from limb and have no memory of it. Hera herself had interfered with Hercules, turning him mad for a brief time, to the point where he murdered his children. And, closer to the Dark Days, she knew Aphrodite would sometimes seduce men and women into such a frenzy that they would murder anyone that they felt love for, to prove their devotion to her. Ares would instill bloodlust in his warriors so they fought to the death, fought without limbs or with terribly wounds. Even she had broken down the minds of others and left them nothing but shells. She had ample experience dealing with those who could not help themselves because of outside forces.

"Whether this Winter Soldier killed your family or not," Athena continued, almost callous in her words, "If Thanos makes it to Earth and finds those stones, it will not just be your family that suffers. He killed the man I love, and _I refuse_ to allow him to take another person's heart from them. And that is what he will do. He will murder _every family_ he can until half the population throughout the universe is _dead_. Do you want that resting on your head?" she began to make her way over to Tony, staring him down as she spoke, "Do you want Thanos to succeed? Just because you could not put aside your hurt long enough to keep the Infinity Stones out of his hands?" she tilted her head as she eyed him, "Or would you rather have to look a child in the eye and explain to them that the reason their family is gone is because you were 'too angry' to make _a phone call_?"

"Athena..." Banner began, eyeing the woman with a deep concern, he had heard her be brutally honest in the past, logic to an almost matter-of-fact degree. But this was bordering on cruel.

"Thor is _dead_ , Thanos IS coming...make the call," Athena ordered, her voice so low that only Tony could hear it.

Not in a million years would Tony admit to just how absolutely terrified he actually felt in that moment, so much so that he even began to lift his cell phone, a small flip phone, to make that exact call, his thumb just over the call button, Steve's name on the screen...when he heard a noise outside.

He looked over at the others standing in the room, noticing how Doctor Strange's and even Athena's hair was shifting in a non-existent breeze, "Say, Doc, you wouldn't happen to be moving your hair, would you?"

"Not at the moment, no," Doctor Strange responded.

Tony gripped the cell phone tight as he looked up at the hole in the ceiling, spotting pieces of metal flying past. He quickly made his way to the door and opened it, stepping outside and into open chaos as people fled from something down the street.

"Thanos," Athena nearly growled she pulled her sword out of the table and strode down after Tony.

It appeared yet another battle for New York had begun.

A/N: Athena, I think, is feeling very numb and in shock right now, but it is slowly making its way into anger, as can be seen by her discussion with Tony. She's firmly trying to hold onto her soldier mentality, to try and compartmentalize what happened and see the mission done, but she's breaking. She's very much on the verge of breaking... :'(

And yes, she is a bit hypocritical to tell Tony to basically 'suck it up' and call Steve while she is also not really 'sucking it up' herself in her loss of Thor, sometimes when you're hurting it's hard to see past your own pain and be a comfort to others. That's happening here with Athena, her way of coping is to fixate on stopping Thanos, not just in revenge for Thor but in a larger scale not wanting others to endure that pain she is at Thanos's hand. Still very much to do with losing Thor, but she's really trying to focus on getting to Thanos. If she takes him out it's a win-win, Thor is avenged and others are safe. To her, the 'squabble' Tony has with Steve is nothing compared to how much others will suffer and lose if Thanos wins :(

Some notes on reviews...

I was heartbroken to separate Athena from Thor both because, logically she'd think he died, and also because imagining Drax and Quill encountering Athena would be amazing :) But you never know, she may end up with Iron Man on the ship, we'll have to wait and see ;)

I'll be focusing mostly on Athena, but there will be some Thor moments that pop up where he thinks on or speaks of Athena :)

Cora will actually be the next story I'll be catching up :) After this story I'll be posting my Steve/Olivia version of The Avengers, and after that we'll get Cora's Beyond ;) So, if all goes well, Cora should be the end of July or (latest) beginning of August ;)

Very interesting ideas, you're not the first to suggest a Will/Elizabeth style wedding for Thor and Athena, all I can say is that the wedding and the vows will be an important part of the series, whether it happens mid-battle or a just after the battle or in the next story I can't say ;)

That was one reason I had to split them, to really showcase how they hold their own alone. They HAVE been together from almost the start, and now they're separated without really knowing if the other is ok :( We'll see how they handle their 'grief' and what that leads to, how they view and rationalize situations without the input of the other. I can say there is one moment where the time they were together shines through because they've picked up tricks from each other and great minds think alike ;)


	4. The Second Battle of New York

The Second Battle of New York

The small group stepped out of the Sanctum, making their way down the street, opposite the direction people were running in. Athena was at the forefront, her shield and sword in hand, not even seeming to notice the humans scrambling around her, her attention solely focused on the cause of their mayhem. Tony was quick to follow, Doctor Strange and Wong right behind him, with Dr. Banner bringing up the rear.

Tony frowned when a woman tripped as she was trying to run, looking over her shoulder back at the way she had come, as though to make sure what attacked them wasn't following her. It wasn't that the woman tripped that had alarmed him...it was the fact that she had tripped just a step in front of Athena, yet the goddess didn't seem to pay her any mind. Just continuing on her march towards the enemy. Granted he only had brief contact with her, usually when the Avengers would assemble, and he hadn't seen her in many years. But from what he _did_ know of her, he thought she would have been the sort to help the woman up and check on her before going after the enemy.

He shook his head, crouching over beside the woman and grabbing her arm to help her up, studying her and checking her over quickly, "You ok?" he asked her.

She gave him a nod, opening her mouth as though she were going to say something else, but she flinched when a car crashed into a pole just behind her. He quickly ushered woman on past him, wanting to get her as far away from whatever attack was happening, and behind the defensive line they were going to create.

He called back to the others, "Help him! Wong, Doc," he gestured vaguely at the crashed car while he kept following Athena, guessing that the threat about to come must truly be such a great threat for her to disregard the people around her and focus solely on them. And if it was that bad, she would need all the help she could get.

"Go!" Banner called as he and Wong moved to go help the man stuck in the car in question, "Got it!"

"FRIDAY, what am I looking at?" Tony called into the headset he was wearing just behind his ear, triggering one of his artificial intelligence units to assist.

"Not sure," was the computerized response, "I'm working on it."

"It's the Children of Thanos," Athena shouted back at him, thinking more on the situation, "Thanos wouldn't risk appearing, not with the possibility that Banner and I would land here and tell you what his plan was. He sent his Children to get the stones. They must have tracked the first one here. This is all just an elaborate bait to draw us out."

"Hey!" Tony called back to Doctor Strange, hearing the wisdom in Athena's words. If they really had discovered the Time Stone was there and we're doing all of this to draw them out, the _last_ thing they should do was put it right in front of their faces, "You might wanna put that Time Stone in your back pocket, Doc!"

Doctor Strange crossed his arms, activating his mystical powers in the form of energy around his wrists, "Might wanna use it."

Tony looked ahead once more, just about ready to press himself to the corner of the nearest building and peek around it, not wanting to make himself a target in case these Children of Thanos were down on Earth, but Athena seemed to have no such qualms. For she just continued to march right out into the open, leaving him and Doctor Strange little option but to follow.

He honestly wasn't sure what to make of the sight before him. The ship hovering just above the ground wasn't as terrifying as the Chitauri ships were, they didn't appear as destructive or menacing, but it was _large_ , like a giant ring hovering in the sky, just floating there near Bleecker Street. He had learned enough about spaceships, though, to assume right off the bat that they must have some sort of weapons system if they were here on a mission to obtain the stone. They _had_ to know it wouldn't go without a fight. He couldn't risk allowing the humans to linger there any longer, not knowing when the ship might attack them.

"FRIDAY, evac. anyone south of 43rd Street, notify first responders," Tony called into the communication unit.

"Will do," the computer responded.

"We need to stop them descending," Athena called back to them, "If we can stall it and destroy the teleportation system it may buy us more time."

"On it," Doctor Strange stepped beside her, activating his mystical powers once more, swirling his arms around and gathering the energy before he threw his arms out towards ship, sending a blast of magical energy at it that stalled the engines.

He had only just started together the next blast, intending to take out the teleportation units, as instructed, when they activated. A blue light shown down from the top of the ring, expanding slightly is it reached ground and, within that energy, two figures appeared.

Athena grit her teeth and stiffened at the sight. There had been _four_ Children of Thanos on the sanctuary ship. It made sense though, if there were two stones on Earth and four children: divide and conquer. Two children for the Time Stone, two children for the Mind Stone. A wise strategy. Well, she was sure Thanos _meant_ for it to be a wise strategy. But if he thought she hadn't been paying attention to his children, observing them, and learning how they fought? Then he had another thing coming.

Two children were easier to face down than four and, unlike on the sanctuary ship, where she was fighting in defense, right now she would be on the offense.

"What do we got?" Tony asked as he stepped up on Athena's other side, taking in their two new opponents. A scrawny-looking alien with gray skin that reminded him of a squid and what looked like a gray-skinned mutated version of the Hulk in armor.

"Ebony Maw," Athena murmured, being sure that only the men on either side of her could hear her, "The slim one, telekinetic, keep aware of the objects around you. His preferred means of attack is to thrust objects at his opponent to keep them from getting close enough to deal a blow."

"And the other one?" Doctor Strange asked, watching as they slowly approached.

"Cull Obsidian. He's strong and heavily defended, he relies on brute strength. From what I've seen, he may almost rival the Hulk in strength."

"Speaking of..." Tony glanced back at Banner, "Anytime you want to let the other guy out..."

Before Banner could reply, the squid-like alien began to speak, "Hear me, and rejoice," he called out, standing beside the brute with his hands clasped, far too calm for the situation, "You are about to die at the hands of the Children of Thanos. Be thankful, that your meaningless lives are now contributing to..."

"I'm sorry, Earth is _closed_ today," Tony cut in with his typical taunting tone, though his gaze kept drifting to Athena, the woman standing rigidly beside him with her sights locked on the two Children of Thanos, "You better pack it up and get outta here."

The alien seemed to ignore his words, his eyes and attention shifting to Doctor Strange instead, "Stone Keeper...does this chattering animal speak for you?"

Doctor Strange strode forward, his arms raised with the mystical energy swirling around them, preparing for battle, "Certainly not. I speak for myself. There's no trespassing in this city and on this planet."

"It means get lost, Squidward!" Tony shouted.

"You will _not_ be taking Earth as well," Athena warned the two aliens, her sword pointed right at them.

Ebony Maw merely tilted his head to the side, observing her, before he started to lift his mouth in a manner that seemed to resemble a smile, though it looked misplaced on his face, "You could not save one small ship," he taunted her, "Do you truly believe you can save an entire planet?"

"I don't need to save the planet," Athena told him, "I just need to stop _you_."

While Doctor Strange and Tony had been speaking to the alien, she had no interest in standing there idly. She had used that brief time to examine her surroundings, to take note of every object in the vicinity. Cull Obsidian would rely on his brute strength alone, charging and hitting and punching, but the telepath was far more dangerous. But his resources were limited to the objects around him, he could warp them and twist them and shape them all he desired, but they had to be within his reach. And his reach was limited as well. So she took careful stock of every rock, car, pole, shard of glass, piece of garbage, that littered the streets. And she ran through a number of different battle scenarios in her mind, trying to find the best one to face down this enemy.

It may have taken her longer than normal to observe them for their strengths and weaknesses and come up with a strategy, but now she had one.

Ebony Maw just sighed and rolled his eyes, "They exhaust me," he waved a hand towards them, but spoke to Cull Obsidian beside him, "Bring me the stone."

Athena stiffened and tensed her grip on her sword and shield in preparation as Cull Obsidian began to stride towards them. Doctor Strange as well readied himself for battle, though Tony seemed more at ease, merely turning his head to look at Banner, "Hey, do you want a piece?" he asked the man, recalling Athena's words about Cull Obsidian's strength and how it might rival the Hulk.

"No, not really, but when do I ever get what I want?" Banner mumbled behind him.

"That's right," Tony looked over his shoulder at Banner when he began grunting, to see him curling his hand into fists and tensing his body, as though trying to will the Hulk into existence, but it didn't seem like it was working, "Been a while. Good to have you, buddy."

"I just...I need to concentrate here for one second," Banner grunted once more, struggling and straining to get the Hulk out, the side of his face managing to turn green for just a moment before he lost it, "Come on, come on, man."

"Where's your guy?"

"I don't know. We're currently having a thing."

"There's no time for a thing. _That's_ the thing right there," Tony pointed at the approaching alien, "Let's go!" Banner let out a longer, louder grunt, his face turning green for a brief moment before it was gone again, the Hulk refusing to show, "Dude, you're embarrassing me in front of the wizards."

"I can't...he won't..."

"Stand down Dr. Banner," Athena spoke.

"It's ok," Tony reassured him, before glancing over at Wong, "Can I leave him with you? Thank you."

Wong nodded, "I have him."

Tony turned back to Cull Obsidian as it approached, slowly making his way towards it as he pulled off of his sunglasses and activated his Iron Man suit, puffing out his chest and straightening his shoulders as he walked. It was clear he was intending to make dramatic and heroic entrance as Iron Man...

When Athena launched herself at Cull Obsidian instead, slamming into him with her shield and knocking the creature back towards Ebony Maw. The squid-like alien stood in place, merely waving a single hand to the side to cast the oncoming alien in a different direction, sending it crashing into a car.

Iron Man, who had only _just_ activated some extra boost to his armor, what looked like curved pieces of metal that hovered in the air on either side of his suit radiating a light and pulsing energy, retracted them, staring at the Olympian as she held her ground and stared down Ebony Maw, completely tearing apart his entrance with her own show of brute strength. Despite how human she looked, it was a stark reminder that she _was_ , in fact, a goddess of battle in her own right and every bit as strong as the Hulk. If they couldn't have the Hulk, he would definitely want her on his team.

...if only she and Thor had been around when he had been facing down Rogers. But, then again, what he knew about her family from the legends and the myths, she probably would have taken Rogers side, having ample experience with people backstabbing each other constantly and seeing nothing wrong with it. And if she sided with Rogers so would Thor, he couldn't see either of them facing off against the other as enemies.

He swallowed hard, reminding himself that, for now, she was on his side, "I'll allow that, too."

"What are those?" Banner asked, gesturing at the extra pieces of armor that had faded back into Tony's suit.

"It's nano-tech," Iron Man responded, "You like it? A little..."

Whatever he was about to say was lost, when he was suddenly hurled up into the air with no one attacking him, clearly Ebony Maw was using his power to throw him away. The alien continued his assault, by launching numerous other objects at the rest of the team. Athena raised her shield to defend herself, Doctor Strange and Wong both summoning shields to protect them and Banner.

"Dr. Banner, if the rest of your green friend won't be joining us..." Doctor Strange began, before turning to the man and opening a portal behind him, pulling it forward past Banner to send him to the park, far enough away to be safe, but near enough to rejoin them if he was able to bring the Hulk out.

They looked up just as Iron Man flew back to them, stealing a little of Athena's thunder. Ebony Maw had sent a car flying right at them, she had her sword raised as though she were about to cut right through it, but Iron Man managed to get a blast in of his own, sending it flying back at Ebony Maw, who raised a hand and cut it in half so it wouldn't hit him again.

Now they were even.

"You gotta get that stone outta here, now!" Iron Man shouted down at them.

But Doctor Strange shook his head, "It stays with me."

"Exactly," Iron Man spoke pointedly, clearly telling the man to get out of there with the stone, "Bye!"

Iron Man took off, flying straight for Ebony Maw, ready to attack. But just as he reached the creature, Cull Obsidian was back on its feet and had hurled some sort of metallic claw on a wire at him, sending him flying into the air and away from them.

Athena didn't hesitate to use the distraction of the attack on Iron Man to her advantage, grabbing a piece of metal that had broken off of a pole of some sort and throwing it with deadly aim at Ebony Maw. The creature let out a howl of pain as the metal managed to embed itself and its left shoulder, the telepath unaware it has been coming and too distracted to stop it. But it seemed that the pain and the attack had jerked his attention back and before Athena knew it, she was being sent flying into the air in the same direction as Iron Man had been. She landed with a crash in the middle of a park that was nearby, seeing Iron Man had landed there as well only a few feet away, having skid right into the base of a tree. Banner had been rushing over to check on Iron Man, looking between the two of them to make sure they were alright.

"Tony, you ok?" the man asked, "How we doing? Good? Bad?"

Athena drove the point of her sword into the ground, using it to push herself to her feet.

Iron Man just kept laying there even as he looked up at Banner, "Really, really good. Really good. Do you plan on helping out?"

"I'm trying. He won't come out!"

Athena dove forward suddenly, her shield up and deflecting a blast as Cull Obsidian arrived in the park and tried to strike at Iron Man while he was distracted. She shoved the shield aside and swung her sword at the brute, managing to slice off a finger that sent him crying out in pain and stumbling back only a few paces.

"Down!" Iron Man shouted, and Athena dropped to the ground, Iron Man firing a laser blast at the Cull Obsidian. But he had underestimated the armor that the brute was wearing and it reflected the laser off of it, heading right back at Iron Man who drove to the side. The blast managed to cut the tree he had fallen against at the base. Athena rolled to the side to avoid the falling trunk, though Banner hadn't been as lucky and got caught partially under it. He seemed to still be alive, just trapped.

She could hear him muttering to himself, "Come on, Hulk. What are you doing? Come on. Come on! Come on!" all the while slapping at his own face as though to force the Hulk into being with the pain of it.

It almost seemed to be working as the Hulk let out a roaring, "No!"

Before it disappeared and Banner was speaking again, "What do you mean, _no_?"

Athena looked back over at where Iron Man was facing down Cull Obsidian, the man flying in circles around the creature and firing a laser at it. She jumped over the tree trunk and ran for them, maneuvering herself behind Cull Obsidian and attacking it from behind while Iron Man had it distracted. She managed to land quite a few blows, slicing at his legs and his back, but he seemed aware of her and she wasn't able to make any more fatal wounds. But it wasn't all for nothing though, with every move she made, with every defense he gave, she learned more and more about his fighting style and his habits. She just needed a few more strikes on the offense and she was sure she'd be able to land that fatal blow.

"Swap!" she shouted at Iron Man, wanting to be on the offense instead of behind Cull Obsidian, but it seemed Iron Man wasn't as great a warrior as he made himself out to be, for instead of maneuvering himself to allow the swap, he seemed to get distracted by her command and looked over.

It was enough of a distraction for Cull Obsidian to swing at Iron Man and bring his rather large warhammer down on the fallen hero.

Iron Man looked up, about to create a shield using his armor to block the blow, his head turning to look for Athena, expecting that she would be trying to do something to get in the way, to block the blow, to defend him. But it seemed the woman was truly in the mindset of battle and was more positioning herself to get a better attack against Cull Obsidian. But suddenly the hammer stopped, and he looked up to see Spider Man was standing in front of him, grabbing the hammer and holding it back from hitting him.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Athena having to change the direction of her next attack, clearly she had been intending to use the attack's momentum in her own blow, but with Spider Man's appearance halting that her tactic wasn't going to work.

"Hey, man!" Spider Man chastised Cull Obsidian, before looking over his shoulder at Iron Man, "What's up, Mr. Stark?"

"Kid, where'd you come from?"

"The field trip."

Athena let out a war cry and threw herself at Cull Obsidian, unfortunately for Spider Man it drew the attention of the brute and the creature spun, lifting his warhammer to attack her in return, the movement sending Spider Man flying off of the hammer in another direction.

"What is this guy's problem, Mr. Stark?" Spider Man called out.

"He's from space. He came here to steal a necklace from a wizard."

Athena only vaguely heard his words, locked into her battle with the brute, "Get back and guard the Time Stone!" she shouted a command at Iron Man, "I can handle this one."

"Are you sure?" Iron Man called over to her, "He's a big, mean, fighting machine!"

In response, Athena merely knocked Cull Obsidian's next attack away and punched him under the chin in a swift uppercut that sent him flying into the air and all the way across the other end of the park. She spun on her heel to give him a look.

"I take that back," Iron Man remarked, "You got chutzpah, Goldilocks."

"Go!" she ordered, though it came out more of a roaring screech.

As soon as she gave the command, a blur of red went streaking across the sky: Doctor Strange, wrapped in his cloak, speeding in the opposite direction of where the battle with Ebony Maw was taking place.

"Kid, that's the wizard!" Iron Man shouted to Spider Man, "Get on it."

"On it!" Spider Man shouted back, immediately going after Doctor Strange.

"Go!" Athena repeated to Iron Man when she saw Ebony Maw following after Doctor Strange, standing on a piece of concrete he was using his powers to levitate and fly on.

"I'm not leaving you here alone!" Iron Man argued.

Athena, irritated, grabbed what looked like a broken shard of a tree branch from the ground and hurled it after Ebony Maw. They watched as it managed to embed itself in the back of the creature's leg as he passed, driving him down on his right knee though the alien didn't stop in his chase.

"Watch out!" Iron Man gave warning as Cull Obsidian rushed for Athena, ready to attack her while she was somewhat distracted.

Athena appeared one step ahead, anticipating his move before she turned and skid right under his attacking arm, to thrust her sword out, stabbing the brute right in the knee.

Iron Man whistled and hissed at the sight of it, "That's gotta hurt..." he murmured, and indeed it did sound like Cull Obsidian was in a great deal of pain with the roar he let out.

Cull Obsidian grabbed his warhammer tightly in his hand and turned to Athena, murder in his eyes, the woman already lifting her shield against the coming blow...when a portal opened right in front of her and Cull Obsidian fell through it into an icy tundra. The brute got his bearings back very quickly and looked over his shoulder at the portal still in the air. He turned and ran for it, ready to jump back through and continue to fight, when the portal closed itself just as his arm reached through, severing it and letting it flop onto the grass.

Athena stared at it a moment as it stilled before she looked up to see Wong standing before them, having rushed after Doctor Strange, he had opened a portal to help stop at least one of the Children of Thanos.

There was a sudden flash of light behind them and they turned to see a beam coming out from the sky, seeming to catch Doctor Strange in its hold, pulling him upwards towards the ship, Spider Man seeming to struggle with keeping the man on the ground.

"Hang on, kid!" Iron Man shouted into a communication device to Spider Man, before pointing over at Wong, "Wong, you're invited to my wedding," he called, taking off into the air, using the rockets in his boots to rush after the two.

Athena raced after him, trying to run in the direction the beam was, seeing Spider Man had lost his grip on whatever was keeping him to the ground, taking him and Doctor Strange up within it, disappearing into the ship. She saw Iron Man flying after them at the ship began to leave the Earth and skid to a halt when it disappeared, too out of reach for her to be able to do anything or jump to help. She let out a fearsome cry and turned to punch a nearby traffic pole, actually sending her fist through the metal and causing the pole to fall down to the ground.

A portal opened behind her and she turned to see the outside of the lair that she and Thor had visited a short while ago. She stepped through it, to find herself in front of the door, Banner and Wong having gone through their own portal and reaching there as well.

"Can you open a portal to that ship?" Banner turned to Wong as a man went up the steps towards the door.

"No," Athena answered instead, putting her sword and shield away. While she was sure the man _could_ open a portal onto the ship, there was just one problem with that. One stone was on its way to Thanos, and _another_ still resided on Earth, with the person holding it unaware of what was awaiting him, "Iron Man and that other one..."

"Spider Man," Wong told her.

"They're both going after Doctor Strange, to protect him and the Time Stone. I don't believe there's anyone else aboard save Ebony Maw or they would have come to assist on the ground. The two of them should be able to take him down, keep the wizard safe, and return him to Earth. But right now we have a bigger problem."

"I don't know..." Banner began, "The Time Stone being anywhere _near_ a Child of Thanos sounds like a big problem to me."

"Yes the Time Stone is near _A_ Child of Thanos," she emphasized, "But there were _four_ Children of Thanos that attacked our ship, and only TWO appeared here for the Time Stone. There is still another Infinity Stone on this Earth..."

"And the other two Children are heading right for it," Banner realized. He scrambled to pull something out of his pocket, the flip phone that Tony had had but dropped earlier, their only means of contacting Steve Rogers and getting in touch with Vision.

Banner stepped aside, lifting the phone to his ear as he tried to contact the man, when Athena noticed Wong heading through the door and into the lair, "Where are you going?" she demanded, following after him into the building.

"The Time Stone's been taken," Wong stated, "The Sanctum remains unguarded. I cannot help you any longer, I must stay here and protect the Sanctum."

"You can still do something!" Athena argued, striding after him and grabbing his arm to keep him from leaving, spinning him to face her once more, "Do you not understand that there's still an Infinity Stone on this planet, and it is in danger of being taken by Thanos? He may have gotten up to three by now, do not let it be four!"

"I gave my oath to the Sanctum, not your Infinity Stone. I can do no more for you."

"You can send me to the next stone," Athena kept her grip on his arm even as he tried to turn away from her, she would not release it.

"No. Every moment the Sanctum remains open leaves in vulnerable for attack. I must seal it away..."

"To Hades with your Sanctum! The fate of this Universe rests in our hands, and you are refusing to help!"

"I cannot forsake my oath!"

Athena grabbed him by the front of the shirt and turned to slam him against the nearest wall. Wong let out a breath as he was winded, his hands coming up to try and pry hers off of him, but she wouldn't be moved. However he managed to grab hold of the wrapping around her left hand and rip it off of her, his eyes growing wide when he saw her entire hand up to her wrist was gray in skin.

He looked back at her, a deep frown on his face when he saw something flash in her eyes, "This is a dangerous path you walk," he warned, genuinely sounding concerned for her.

Athena just tightened her grip on his shirt, "If it leads me to Thanos, I don't care."

Wong swallowed hard and gave a short nod, signaling for Athena to let him go, which she did, hastily rewrapping her left hand so Banner wouldn't see. Wong reached up to rub the top of his chest, just under his neck, feeling as though the skin there would start to bruise with how much force Athena had used to hold him down. He took a deep breath, "I will send you to the holder of the next stone," he offered, "But that is all I can do."

Athena's jaw clenched, but she gave him a firm nod of acceptance. She looked over her shoulder when Banner hesitantly entered the room, clutching the phone in his hand.

He looked between the two of them, noting the very obvious tension, "Everything alright in here?" he asked cautiously.

"He is going to send me to Vision," Athena told him, "Have you been able to locate him?"

Banner glanced between them one more time, before nodding, "According to the Cap, Scotland," he stepped closer to Wong, holding up the phone to the last known location Steve had had contact with Vision in, giving him the coordinates to make his portal.

A moment later the swirling vortex appeared against the wall, revealing a street already dark in the night and undisturbed. Athena looked at Banner, "Get to the Avenger's base," she instructed him, "I will meet you there with Vision."

She waited till he nodded before stepping through, ready to find the stone.

A/N: Hmmm...Athena does NOT seem happy that the Time Stone was taken, that means Vision's is the only one left that she can protect. She's failed once on earth...I think we all know she won't let herself fail again. I wonder how she'll handle two more Children of Thanos? };) We'll also get a little more Thor in the next chapter too. Athena thinks he's dead, he at least has hope she's alive, but how will he handle the separation and what choices will he make? ;)

I agonized in this chapter too if Athena should go with Strange or Banner, but since Thor was the one with flying abilities, Athena was a little more 'grounded' in this battle. Iron Man didn't think to grab her to go with him in the heat of the moment and, as fast as she is, she couldn't catch up to them in time :( I figure she would focus on the other Child who was grounded and leave the one who could fly to the other Avenger who could fly, it just didn't work out the way she hoped :(

Some notes on reviews...

The Children will certainly experience a side of Athena they'll wish they'd never let out };)

I'm glad you liked the Hulk-Bucky parallel, that was something I couldn't help but think about after Ragnarok, how Bruce had no idea what Hulk had done those two years on the planet, how it was possible he didn't remember other things Hulk could have done too, how he sometimes wakes up asking if he hurt anyone because he can't remember :( And there was also the part with Clint too, like he was mind controlled, almost like the brainwashing Bucky went through, but Tony still let him into his home. It's on a different scale, in how personal the attack was, but I felt like Tony needed a real friend, someone he truly considered a partner, to bring that up to him :(

I can't say if Athena will contact her family or not, she may be a bit too focused on Thanos and his children than to think of it. But there will be a part where some aspect of her family is brought into the story ;) As for Proxima Midnight in the final battle...we'll have to see how the first fight with Proxima goes first };)

I think Athena would have been a little proud of Loki too :')

I was sad in this chapter, because Athena only really gets a glimpse of Spidey and he's adorable :( But we'll definitely get to see her interact with Cap, Natasha, and Sam next ;) As for the gray, it's not a dot anymore, we'll find out exactly what it is though yup ;)

It's definitely going to be hard for Athena to find a balance with the constant battles :( She tried to here, with taking time to assess her enemies and try to come up with a strategy, but it all fell apart when Strange was taken :( Now that Thanos may have another Stone, she's going to be in battle mode to keep Vision safe :(


	5. A Message Sent

A Message Sent

Thor jerked awake with a gasp, only barely catching sight of the people who had been gathered around where he'd been laying as he practically jumped off of some sort of examination board onto his feet. He stumbled away, nearly running into the side of what was clearly a spaceship, as he struggled to gather his breath. He was shaking, panting for air, his mind racing as he strained to recall what had just happened...and then hoping it was nothing more than a terrible nightmare when he did.

He saw it in flashes across his mind, standing in the sanctuary ship only for it to be attacked. He remembered Athena rushing in, reassuring him that the Valkyrie and the other Sakaaran Gladiators had gone with the rest of his people in lifeboats to escape. He remembered the blast that jolted them all so badly, damaging the ship, the light that filled the command room as a teleport was activated. He could even remember the battle that followed, the four Children of Thanos and the savage himself cutting through what was left of his people, trapping him in metal, dropping a beam on top of Athena, nearly beating the Hulk to death. He remembered Heimdall giving his life to open the Bifrost and get Athena and the Hulk out of there. He remembered Thanos crushing Loki, dropping his brother's body in front of him, before teleporting off of the ship moments before it exploded in their final attack.

It was a blur after that, he had no memory of what had happened, how he had survived, or how he had come to find himself where he was. For this was clearly _not_ a ship of Asgardian make, nor was it the sanctuary ship he had been on before.

Something niggled in his mind, a realization that he had his back turned to the people who had surrounded him when he had woken, but yet they had not attacked him. He could feel himself hope that it was a sign that these people were not his enemy, but he could also hear Athena's voice in his mind telling him never to make such an assumption. He slowly turned around, taking in the sight of those people.

There was a woman with green skin, a man who who appeared as though made of stone, another woman with antenna dangling from her forehead, and a small furry creature glaring at him. There was some sort of tree creature off to the side who didn't appear to be paying any attention to him at all, fixated on a small box in his hand. There was truly only one humanoid-looking being among them, a man with brown hair and the beginnings of some sort of beard. They were all staring at him just as he was at them.

"Who the hell are you guys?"

"We're the Guardians of the Galaxy," the humanoid man stated, "Who the hell are _you_?"

"I am Thor, Odinson, God of Thunder and rightful King of the Asgardian people," he stated, drawing himself to his full height for only a moment, before his ribs gave out and he felt himself hunch over once more, feeling uncharacteristically weak. But if he had been dealt as bad a blow as he could imagine an exploding spaceship and being exposed to the space would be, it did make sense.

"I am Groot," the tree creature spoke.

"I am Drax," the stone-man added.

The humanoid man rolled his eyes at that, but began to gesture around in introduction, "Quill, Gamora, Mantis, and that's Rocket."

"How did I get here?" Thor looked between them.

"We found you floating in space," Gamora spoke, stepping closer and offering him a small bowl of some sort of hot liquid, "It appears your ship suffered a fatal attack."

Quill nodded, "There were no other survivors we could find," he told Thor, "I'm sorry."

Mantis moved beside him, draping a thin blanket around Thor's shoulders just after the man had dropped down onto a nearby crate at the news, "You suffer..." she murmured, "A terrible loss...but there is also a fear in your heart," she tilted her head, "You fear for the one you love."

"Aye," Thor nodded, taking a taste of the liquid in the bowl with a spoon, grateful for the sustenance, "My Queen, Athena, was pulled from the ship before it exploded. I know not if she survived."

He swallowed hard at the thought, praying to the Allfather, to his mother, to any power he knew of in the Realms, that she had lived, that she had survived traveling in the Bifrost in such a manner. He had hope that Heimdall had sent her and the Hulk to Earth, that the journey was without peril, that the Bifrost held past Heimdall's demise and landed her safely. His heart clenched painfully in his chest as he realized something...Athena may not know HE survived either. He could understand why, the life-support was failing even if the ship had not exploded. Thanos didn't seem the sort to help his enemies. He closed his eyes as he thought on that, feeling his heart warring with his mind. His heart told him he needed to get to Earth, to find Athena and reassure her that he was alive and well. But his mind reminded him of Thanos and the threat he posed to all the universe...and knew he had to do something to stop the man first.

He knew exactly which option Athena would urge him to follow. One person's life was not more important than the entire universe, though he would always argue her heart was worth more than anything and he would have to continue letting it break, just to ensure Thanos could no longer harm anyone else.

He was going to give her the greatest wedding his people had ever seen to make up for the hurt and pain this must be causing her.

"What happened to your ship?" Rocket asked, sounding almost disappointed.

Quill quickly kicked the raccoon with his foot, giving him a hard look and shaking his head that it was _not_ the time to ask about why the ship had exploded when they had been going there for a chance at stealing it in the first place, "Who attacked you?"

"The transmission said you were a sanctuary vessel," Mantis agreed.

"Thanos," Thor stated, "He and four of his Children teleported onto my ship after they attacked it. He came in search of the Space Stone and he found it...he means to gather all the Infinity Stones."

Gamora let out a startled breath at that, "The entire time I knew Thanos, he only ever had one goal: to bring balance to the Universe by wiping out half of all life. He used to kill people planet by planet, massacre by massacre."

"Including my own," Drax murmured.

"If he gets all six Infinity Stones, he can do it with the snap of his fingers, like this," Gamora snapped her fingers in demonstration.

Thor frowned as he looked at the green woman, "You seem to know a great deal about Thanos."

"Gamora..." Drax began, looking at Gamora, but she did not say anything or make any move to deter him speaking, and so he continued, "Is the daughter of Thanos."

Thor's expression turned hard, "Your father killed my brother..."

"Oh, boy," Rocket muttered under his breath as Thor stood, approaching Gamora almost menacingly.

" _Step_ father," Quill offered, clearly trying to keep the Asgardian from attacking, though Gamora didn't back down, knowing her father had harmed so many people, "Technically. She hates him as much as you do!"

Thor stared the woman down for a long moment, before he spoke in a tone that was far from threatening but more understanding, "Families can be tough," he agreed, reaching out to put a hand on Gamora's shoulder, telling her with just the action that he did not hold _her_ responsible for her father's actions. She hadn't been part of the Children who attacked his ship, this was not on HER to suffer for her father's cruel dealings. He knew he had dealt with enough people blaming him for the things Loki had done in the past or holding him responsible for things his father had done. And he knew of stories Athena had told him that her family, at times, could be even worse, "Look, before my father died, he told me that I had a sister...that he imprisoned in Hell. Then she returned home and stabbed me in the eye so...I had to kill her. It's life, there was nothing else. Round and round. But I feel your pain."

Quill moved closer to Gamora's side, almost seeming to try and push Thor back with his mere presence, managing to maneuver his way in between the Asgardian and Gamora as he spoke, "I feel your pain, as well," he said, though his words were clearly directed at Gamora first before he focused on Thor, "Because, I mean it's not a competition, but I've been through a lot. My father killed my mother, and then I had to kill my father. And that was hard. Probably even harder than having to kill a sister. Plus, I, came out with both of my eyes."

Thor didn't seem to be paying any attention at all to what Quill was saying, he merely looked down at the spoon he still held in his hand, "I need a hammer, not a spoon..." he turned and wandered across the ship to some sort of computer, with different data on it, randomly poking at bits of it, "How do I open this thing? Is there some sort of a four-digit code maybe...maybe a birth date or something..."

"What are you doing?" Rocket called as the Guardians stood there, watching Thor with odd expressions, honestly not sure what he was trying to do since he was so unfamiliar with their ship.

"Taking your pod."

Quill scoffed, "No, you're not," the man spoke, though his voice and tone and accent were quite different than how he had been speaking up to that point. It sounded as though he had deepened his voice and adopted Thor's accent, "You'll not, be taking our pod today, sir."

The Guardians all turned to look at him, questions written across their faces, clearly it wasn't just Thor that had noticed this distinct change in his voice.

"Quill..." Rocket began incredulously, "Are you making your voice deeper?"

"No," was Quill's quick response.

"You are," Drax insisted, "You're imitating the god-man. It's weird."

"No, I'm not!"

But then Mantis pointed at him as well, "He just did it again!"

"This is my voice!" Quill continued to insist.

Thor stepped off of a small step in the ship, landing with a harder thump than intended, but silencing the Guardians as he slowly approached Quill, staring him down as he had Gamora earlier, "Are you mocking me?"

"Are you mocking _me_?" Quill merely repeated.

"You just did it again."

"He's trying to copy me!" Quill accused as he looked at his friends.

"Enough!" Gamora cut into their squabbling, "We need to stop _Thanos_. Which means we need to find out where he's going next."

"Knowhere," Thor answered.

"He must be going _somewhere_ ," Mantis argued.

"No," Quill shook his head, understanding that Thor was not saying Thanos had no plans to go anywhere else, but that Knowhere was, in fact, the location he was traveling to, "No, Knowhere? It's a place. We've been there. It sucks..." he frowned as Thor opened a cabinet and pulled out some of their food to eat, "Excuse me, that's our food."

"Not anymore," Thor mumbled through a mouthful of food.

"Thor..." Gamora cut in once more with a sigh, casting a firm glance at Quill to tell him to shut up as she spoke to the Asgardian, "Why would he go to Knowhere?"

"Because for years, the Reality Stone has been safely stored there with a man we call the Collector..."

Quill scoffed, "If it's with the Collector, then it's _not_ safe. Only an idiot would give that man a stone."

"Or a genius."

"How do you know he's not going for one of the other stones?" Gamora insisted, this was far too important to make guesses at.

Thor sighed and turned to them, not exactly pleased he was being questioned at every turn. They didn't have time to bicker over this, they needed to go and stop Thanos, and that's what he was trying to do. The longer he stood there, the longer Athena would have to go on thinking he died. He never _ever_ wanted to cause her harm or pain, and this was doing both. The sooner he could leave the better, but the Guardians clearly wouldn't let him do that just by taking his word for it.

"There's six stones out there. Thanos already has the Power Stone because he stole it, last week, when he decimated Xandar. He stole the Space Stone from me, when he destroyed my ship and slaughtered the people who stood with me. If it hadn't been for Athena, he would have killed more of my subjects. He sent his Children after the Time and Mind Stones, which are safe on Earth. They're with the Avengers."

"The Avengers?" Quill shook his head.

"They're Earth's Mightiest Heroes."

"Like Kevin Bacon?" Mantis called out, quite excited.

Thor frowned at that, not entirely sure who this Kevin Bacon was, "He may be on the team. I don't know. Haven't been there in a while. But if Athena IS on earth now, if that's where Heimdall sent her, and I can think of no other place he would," or at least no other place he'd be ABLE to send her, Olympus was fortified even against the Bifrost, "Then she will make it her mission to guard both stones with her life. It will buy us more time to find a way to stop Thanos."

He hated to think of it that way, but he just kept reminding himself she was alive and a mighty warrior in her own right. She wouldn't be alone, she'd have the other Avengers. Thanos only had two stones, Athena would keep him getting two more. And if he was going to make his way back to her, he couldn't return empty handed. Thanos WOULD head to Earth eventually, HE would be ready to face the man down. He just needed one thing first.

"That still leaves the Soul Stone..." Gamora reminded him.

"No one's ever seen that. No one even knows where it is. Not even Athena could find it and she's the literal Goddess of Wisdom, she's probably the smartest woman in the universe. If she can't find it neither can Thanos. Therefore, Thanos can't get it. Therefore, he's going to Knowhere. Hence, he'll be getting the Reality Stone. You're welcome."

Athena would smile at how he'd used her so often spoke of logic to work out Thanos's next attack.

"Then we have to go to Knowhere, _now_."

"Wrong. Where we have to go is Nidavellir."

"That's a made up word," Drax countered.

"All words are made up."

"Nidavellir is real?" Rocket cut in, "Seriously? I mean, that place is a _legend_. They make the most powerful, horrific weapons to ever torment the Universe. I would _very much_ like to go there, please."

It was exactly where he knew Athena would have wanted him to go. She was always the one preaching preparedness in battle. He may not have her skills with drawing up a battle strategy based on his opponent's weaknesses, but he knew no battle, no matter how well the strategy was made, would stand much of a chance without weapons to fight it with. Thanos might be near invincible now, but that didn't mean there wasn't a way to defeat him. Athena would want him to get a weapon that could face Thanos down in battle and stand a chance of victory. The man already had two of the Infinity Stones, he was already very powerful, it wouldn't matter whether he got the rest of the stones or not if they didn't have a way to stop him when they faced him. He trusted that the other stones would be safe long enough for him to get that weapon.

He hoped it was a strategy Athena would be proud of.

"The rabbit is correct," Thor remarked, "And clearly the smartest among you."

"Rabbit?"

"Only Eitri the Dwarf can make me the weapon I need. I assume you're the captain, sir?"

Rocket grinned, pleased with the assumption, "You're very perceptive."

"You seem like a noble leader. Will you join me on my quest to Nivadellir?"

"Lemme just ask the captain. Oh, wait a second, it's me! Yeah, I'll go."

"Wonderful."

"Uh except that _I'm_ the captain," Quill reminded the raccoon.

"Quiet!"

"And that's my backpack," Peter lamented as Rocket grab the bag.

"Quill, sit down," Rocket ordered.

"Look, this is my ship. And I'm not going to...wait, what kind of weapon are we talking about here?"

Thor grinned, "The Thanos-killing kind."

"Don't you think that we should _all_ have a weapon like that?"

Thor actually laughed at that thought, "No. You simply lack the strength to wield them. Your bodies would crumble as you minds collapsed into the madness."

"...is it weird that I wanna do it even more now?" Rocket wondered out loud.

"A little bit. Yeah."

Gamora shook her head however, "If we don't go to Knowhere and Thanos retrieves another stone,-he'll be too powerful to stop."

"He already is."

"I got it figured out," Rocket interrupted, taking charge, "We got two ships, and the largest goes with the morons. Me and Groot will go with the pirate-angel here, and the morons will go to Knowhere to try and stop Thanos. Cool? Cool."

"So cool."

Quill scoffed, "For the record...I know that you're only going with him because it's where Thanos isn't."

"You know, you really shouldn't talk that way to your captain, Quill. Come on, Groot. Put that game down. You'll rot your brain," Rocket turned and opened the door to the pod, allowing Thor and Groot to take a seat.

Thor gave the remaining Guardians a firm nod of solidarity and respect, "I bid you farewell and good luck, morons. Bye."

With that, the doors to the pod shut and disengaged from the main ship, flying them off into space to Nidavellir and moving Thor one step closer to returning to Athena.

~8~

Athena raced through the streets of Scotland, her gaze up on the sky. She had gotten a look at the phone that Banner had shown to Wong, with the hotel that Vision and Wanda were staying in and that was where Wong had deposited her. She had almost entered it, hoping that, perhaps, both were still inside. However there was something in the sky above that caught her eye and had her running in a different direction, away from the hotel. Unlike in New York, the ship that the Children of Thanos had taken was landing there far more gently. Clearly they were intending for this to be something of a sneak attack. Strategically it made sense, it was a good plan. If they intended to launch an attack, night would be the best time, the cover of darkness providing an element of surprise. But they would also need to lower their ship in a manner and way that kept them hidden just as much. Unless someone was looking up at the sky the way she had been, they probably would not have even noticed the giant ship moving there in the darkness. And from what she could tell it was very late at night, the humans were likely all asleep.

But the ship hadn't come down near the hotel, but somewhere a short distance away. She could only assume that was where Wanda and Vision were. She pulled her sword from its sheath, holding it tightly in her other hand as she went, ready for battle.

Soon enough she could hear the sounds of something shattering the distance, just around the next street. She pushed herself to run and nearly skid to a halt when she saw the battle taking place. The shattering noise had been Wanda, being thrown into a shop window, Vision seemingly impaled on a blade of some sort of. Corvus Glaive, with a flick of his arm, threw Vision to the side, causing him to roll away as the creature stalked towards him. But Athena had already taken off once more, hurling herself at the creature and slamming into it, sending him flying away into a pole.

"Get him out of here!" Athena yelled over to Wanda as she put herself in between the woman and Proxima Midnight, blocking a blow with her sword, keeping the Children busy so Wanda would be able to get Vision away, using her magic to launch them both into the air.

While Athena allowed herself only a moment to look over, to make sure Wanda and Vision were nowhere to be seen, Corvus Glaive used her distraction against her, and tackled _her_ to the side this time. The two Children didn't bother continuing their battle with her, she was not their target, they both took off in the direction Wanda and Vision had gone. Athena rolled onto her feet and raced after them, realizing her mistake. Her enemies would not be treating her as though _she_ were an enemy, their target was Vision: it wouldn't be them fighting anyone else as their main focus but as a momentary distraction on their quest to get to him. Attacking the Children would not draw them into attacking her in return, they would not be distracted, they could only be stopped.

There was a crash ahead of her and she didn't hesitate to jump up, over a small building to the other side where the sound came from. And there was Vision, who appeared to be holding his own against Corvus Glaive, Wanda dealing with Proxima Midnight.

Athena reached beside her and grabbed a street sign, yanking it down and snapping the middle in half, before she hurled it at Corvus Glaive, impaling him on his one shoulder, seeing Vision was almost overwhelmed in his fight. A roaring, pain-filled cry he gave off was just enough to distract Proxima Midnight. And Athena ran for her, managing to put her sword around the woman's neck, holding it against her, and yanking her back.

"Go!" she shouted to Wanda, "Run!"

Wanda immediately used her magic to summon Vision to her, the two of them taking off into the sky. Corvus Glaive aimed a weapon up, firing some sort of energy right at them, sending them falling towards a warehouse. Before he spun to face the fighting women, sending another blast at Athena and Proxima Midnight. If the creature thought that she would let go of Proxima Midnight to dive to the side and avoid the blast...he severely underestimated her. She held Proxima Midnight tighter, as a shield, letting her take the full force of the blast, before throwing the woman to the side to run at Corvus Glaive.

She stumbled to the ground when a blast came from behind her, Proxima Midnight having picked herself up enough to fire her own weapon at Athena's back.

But then the Children made the worst mistake they possibly could...they didn't bother to make sure she _stayed down_. They just ran past her after Vision and Wanda once more.

An old warning she had heard Tony speak once before came to her mind: fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

There would be _no third time_ , she swore it.

She let out a grunt as she got to her feet and took off, racing after the two Children, hoping to catch up with them. But they had some sort of grappling hook device that allowed them both to make it to the top of the warehouse the other Avengers had fallen through quicker than she could. She took only a moment to take in her surroundings, trying to find the best way to get into the warehouse. It was just slightly too high up for her to jump up to, but she could always use her sword to hook into the bricks and use it to pull herself up, to scale the wall. But that would take too much time. There were no windows on this side of the building for her to jump through, nor were there any doors carved into the wall.

She paused and looked to her hand, then back to the brick wall right next to her. She grabbed the shield off her back, strapping it onto her arm, gripping the leather band of it tightly as she stared down the wall. She stepped back as far as she could and lifted her shield before her, launching herself at the building, bracing herself as she broke through the wall and into the room beyond.

She couldn't see Wanda or Vision though, but she could hear the sound a train passing, just on the other side of another wall, the sound of something hitting the ground. She braced herself again, gripping her shield and running across the factory to the other wall, bursting through it, to see what was going on. Wanda and Vision were no longer alone, more reinforcements had arrived. Captain America and the Black Widow both facing down Proxima Midnight, taking her two at once, with Corvus Glaive lying on the ground, a wound in his abdomen. The Falcon dove down, heading right for Proxima Midnight and kicking at her, sending her flying back towards Corvus Glaive.

Athena gripped her sword tighter, glaring at the fallen Chlidren, her world narrowing down to just the two enemies on the ground, before she began to stalk towards them...

"Get up," Proxima Midnight spoke, crawling her way over to Corvus Glaive.

"I can't," Corvus Glaive replied.

Neither of them seemed to notice Athena watching them, taking in every injury and wound on their bodies that she could see. In that moment they weren't fallen enemies, they weren't beaten...they were the Children of Thanos, her enemy, the ones who had slaughtered her people and taken Thor from her. That was all she saw, the miserable scum that had ripped her heart out of her chest, who had nearly done the same to Wanda and Vision. With every step she took, her mind raced with the next step of the attack as she began to sheath her sword...

 _There would be no third time_.

"We don't wanna kill you," Natasha told the Children, warning them, "But we will."

Proxima Midnight glared at her and lifted her one wrist to reveal a metal band around it, a teleportation device fixed there, "You'll never get the chance again."

"Think again!" a voice shouted.

Captain America looked over his shoulder to see if Athena storming her way towards them. Within the blink of an eye she had pulled the delicate knife from the bun in her hair and hurled it with all her might with deadly accuracy...and it embedded itself directly into Proxima Midnight's chest. The woman didn't stop in her march, nor did she even seem to notice or care that Captain America, Black Widow, and the Falcon had joined them. She strode right past them and straight over to the two Children of Thanos. She grabbed Proxima Midnight's wrist, twisting it with so much force that they could hear an audible snap. Not only had she broken the creature's wrist, but she'd also torn the metal band off of her arm to drop it on the ground.

She moved onto a knee, just behind Corvus Glaive, grabbing the creature on either side of his head, one arm behind and one in front, before pulling her arms apart, snapping its neck. She didn't even flinch as she let him go, dropping him onto the ground, ignoring the scream Proxima Midnight made at the action. She merely reached out a hand to grab the female's other arm as she swung at Athena, so enraged by the death of Corvus Glaive that she reacted. Athena twisted on her knee, moving closer to Proxima Midnight and throwing the woman's wrist to the side so she could, instead, grab hold of the dagger that was wedged in the woman's heart.

"Right now," she pressed on the dagger, causing the woman to gasp and thrash on the ground but Athena grabbed Proxima Midnight's face with her other hand, forcing the creature to look at her, " _This_ is _all_ that is keeping you alive," she twisted the dagger slightly in emphasis, "The moment I remove it, you'll have seconds left. So you need to listen to me _very carefully._ I have a message for your beloved father," she spat the last word with venom, "And you're going to deliver it, _do you understand me_?" she pushed on the dagger more, making the woman scream, but her grip on the woman's face tightened, keeping her attention locked on her, "You tell him: he took the man I love... _I won't stop_ till I've taken _everything_ he loves, starting with _his precious children!_ "

And, with that, Athena yanked her dagger out of the woman and stepped back, purposefully stepping on the band she pulled from the women's arm to activate the teleport, allowing both Children to be picked up and returned to their ship.

Athena stood a moment longer, staring down at the blood that gathered on the ground from where the two creatures had fallen, panting heavily from the last effort she'd put herself through. Her gaze drifted down to her left arm, noting absently the bruises and cuts that marred her skin from where she'd fallen before pulling her shield out, there was one long gash on the side of her arm. But she felt no pain from it, her focus wasn't even on the scrape or other bruises, but more the fact that, in the dim lamplight...her skin looked almost gray up to her elbow.

She heard a shuffle behind her and looked over her shoulder at the remaining Avengers standing there, Vision being held up between the Falcon and Wanda, limping closer to them, all watching her with varying emotions flickering across their faces, as though they didn't know what to say.

It was Natasha who broke the silence, looking Athena up and down, taking in the state of her worn appearance, "You uh...you feeling alright there?"

Athena merely gave a stiff nod, "We are now two enemies down."

Captain America shook himself out of his thoughts at her words, looking at those gathered around him as his gaze strayed, from the ground and up to the sky where the ship was retreating, "Come on," he spoke, "Let's get back to the jet."

A/N: As Mantis would say, Athena is definitely kicking names and taking ass right now lol ;) Strategically, it gives THEM more of an advantage to take out the Children so they can't assist Thanos. Emotionally, Athena is taking them out for a different reason :( But I feel like Natasha would be the one to react to what Athena did least, being an assassin, she knows sometimes you HAVE to take an opponent out, not just injure them :(

Poor Thor, separated from Athena, but knowing she'd want him to get a weapon first :'( He's trying to focus on that, get a weapon and he can go back to Athena, she'll forgive him not returning sooner if he comes back with a way to kill Thanos. He hates himself for doing it, for letting her think him dead, but there's no time, Thanos is only growing stronger :( But poor Athena too, in that moment, all she saw was the death and destruction those two Children helped cause, and she wasn't going to let them get away with it :(

So I can say, yes, Corvus Glaive is 100 percent dead. Athena literally snapped his neck, no coming back from that. And yes, Proxima Midnight did NOT have long to live after Athena pulled the blade from her. She aimed with precision, enough where the woman would live long enough to deliver a message, but not be saved. And yes, that WILL affect the final battle, but I figure Thanos has the largest army they've encountered yet, even without two of his Children there to lead them, they are still formidable :(

Some notes on reviews...

Oh we will certainly see the return of Athena's brown hair in this story, I just can't say when ;) As for the gray stuff (which in this case is sadly not delicious, the servants of the Beast's castle would be disappointed in that), we'll find that out too, but also can't say when ;)

Athena's stress isn't over yet, you'd think there'd be a moment of respite, between this and Wakanda...you'd be wrong, at least...3? At least 3 more stressful moments to come before she even makes it to Wakanda }:)

I can't say if Athena will do anything rash, but it might be one way to describe a moment here or there ;)

Athena definitely did NOT let anything stand in her way to getting to these children :( Natasha won't be the only one to notice how off Athena is, I can say at least one of the ex-Avengers will actually try to talk to her about it though ;)


	6. Digging Up the Past

A/N: I'm sorry this is so late. I went to a post-4th barbeque yesterday and I think I ate something that really did not agree with me :( I may not get to post Sadie for DW today, but I'm hoping I'll get it up tomorrow with the next chapter of Thor :(

~8~

Digging Up the Past

Athena stood with her back resting against a wall of the quinjet, her shield on her back, as she worked on wrapping her left arm where it had been scratched with more bandages. It was both to tend to the wound but also to ensure that none of the other Avengers noticed the graying of her skin. Even with how little they knew of Olympians and of her, she was sure even they would know that it was not a good thing. She couldn't risk them holding her back from this mission. The Children of Thanos killed her people, killed the man she loved, she was going to slaughter _every last one of them_.

And if that meant she'd have to go through the Avengers to do it, so be it.

But she still had enough sense to know that she didn't want it to come down to that.

"I thought we had a deal," Natasha was saying as she lifted the open ramp of the quinjet as Sam began to start it up, "Stay close, check in. Don't take any chances."

Wanda flinched at Natasha's words, knowing they were directed at her and Vision, "I'm sorry. We just wanted time."

Athena closed her eyes at that, trying to keep her thoughts from drifting to Thor, feeling exactly that pain. But she also knew that no matter how much time you had with someone you loved, it would never be enough when they were taken from you. That was one of the few things keeping her on track, that notion that his people were still out there, that and the thought that stopping Thanos would keep others from feeling that same pain she was feeling now. Her desire to avenge Thor was a very large part of her going after Thanos, but there was more to it thanthat. She had to keep telling herself there HAD to be more to it than JUST that or she was sure she'd break down entirely from the truth she was trying to avoid.

"Where to, Cap?" Sam called back as he began to lift off the ground.

"Home," Steve said.

"No," Athena cut in, looking over at the man, "Not yet. There is still one more Child of Thanos left on this Earth. We need to stop him, before he can return to Thanos."

She doubted Cull Obsidian would be able to leave Earth quickly, Wong had managed to cut off the arm that held the teleportation band, but she would not risk him finding someway to arrange for another ship to get him before SHE could get to him.

"You know where he is?" Steve asked.

Athena gave a firm nod which he returned.

~8~

Steve flinched, Sam beside him letting out a hiss of empathetic pain, while Natasha merely watched with an analyzing expression on her face, All of them merely standing there in the middle of the snow as they looked upon the battle taking place a few feet away. Vision and Wanda were still on the quinjet, recovering from their last fight. And it was a good thing too, Steve was quite certain they didn't need to see this.

Athena had given them the location of the last Child of Thanos, but with the understanding and stipulation that, when they landed, SHE would be the one facing it down. She cited that she was the one most wronged by the Children of Thanos for the destruction and retribution was owed to HER. They were _only_ to step in if she was in danger or could not handle the child any longer. Watching her attacking the brute, Steve was quite sure neither was going to happen. Despite how injured Athena was, how much she was clearly being weighed down by a deep grief in her loss of Thor, which Banner had told them about when he called them earlier, despite how exhausted she must be, she fought with all her strength against the very large threat that was Cull Obsidian.

Steve couldn't help but frown though as he watched the battle take place. There was something off about Athena's style. Granted he hadn't witnessed Athena battling other people very often, he knew she and Natasha would spar at times, he had caught glimpses of her on the battlefield in New York with the Chitauri, and also against Ultron's minions. But what he _did_ know of her and her style, it didn't match up with what he was witnessing now. She wasn't just fighting with Cull Obsidian, she wasn't just taking out one of their enemies...

She was soundly beating the creature along the way.

There was a cruelness, a coldness, a rage, in her movements that he could see even from there. She wasn't just fighting, she was aiming to inflict as much pain as she could before she actually took out her enemy. She was landing blows that were sending the creature flying into snow mounds, but leaping right after him to continue her assault without giving him a chance to get to his feet. She was slashing her sword at his legs and his arm, any piece of his body she could find, but not in a sense that it was meant to stop him but more to cause him immense pain. She was exhibiting so many moves and different tactics that he had never seen on a field of battle in his life. Not even from the Black Widow or the Winter Soldier.

She was out to kill, yes, but it was clear she also wanted to make the man suffer first.

He had tried to call out to her, only moments ago, telling her to just finish him already. It wouldn't do anything for them if she were to get hurt or wear herself out during this battle. They would need everyone at their full strength if this Thanos creature was truly coming to Earth. But it was almost as though Athena couldn't hear him, like she didn't even notice they were still standing there in the frigid snow, watching as she landed blow after blow, kick after kick, driving this creature to his knees. In a vague sense he could understand the mentality she must be in, in battle you couldn't afford distractions, you had to focus on the enemy and the attack that was coming. But this was not something he was familiar with, how truly focused she was on this battle.

He glanced over at Natasha, the woman's face a mask of stone, but he could tell just in the smallest way she shifted her body weight that she was not comfortable with watching Athena in this attack. Even she could tell something was truly off about the goddess.

He looked back at the battle when he heard a roar of pain, to see Athena had managed to drive the creature to his knees again until he fell onto his chest in the snow, struggling to find the strength to push himself back onto his feet. It would be impossible, he could tell just from the various wounds Athena had been able to inflict on Cull Obsidian without the creature being able to land a single blow on her. There were cuts and slashes and stab marks riddled throughout his body, he was missing half his leg, all the fingers on his sword hand, and was missing a piece of his shoulder. Athena took a step to back away from the creature as though _daring_ him to get back onto his feet, as though taunting him that the battle wasn't finished.

But as soon as the creature managed to lift himself just onto one of his elbows, Athena strode forward, lifting her sword above her head with both hands and bringing it down with all her might, cutting his head right off.

Steve swallowed hard at the gruesome sight, "Athena!" he called over to her, trying to be louder than the wind whipping around them.

Athena just stood there looking down at the head that she had just removed, contemplating finding some way to teleport it straight to Thanos. It would be fitting, it would only be _right_ that the man be returned something so precious as his child's head on a pike. But now that the battle was over, she could feel her senses starting to return to her, she could feel the cold whipping around her, a minor annoyance, she could hear the wind howling, could hear the engines of the quinjet behind her. She could also feel the gazes of three people on her back.

She lifted her sword just a moment, looking down at her reflection in the top part of the metal, closest to the hilt, seeing something red flash in it that was not blood. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to steel herself, trying to focus and center herself once more. Her eyes opened a moment later and she looked down at her sword once more, seeing only herself looking back in her reflection.

She nodded and turned, striding back towards the three Avengers and the quinjet.

"That was some fight," Natasha remarked, eyeing the woman.

"Thanos killed Thor," she reminded them, "He and his Children teleported to our ship and proceeded to slaughter everyone who was standing. This is no more than what he deserves."

"Not really your right to decide that, was it?" Sam began to question, but Athena shot him a narrow-eyed glare, and he actually took a step back from the sheer coldness in her eyes, "Or it is," he backtracked, "You're the goddess of law and justice too, though, right? So, yeah, I guess this is something you do."

Athena just stepped past him and moved back into the quinjet, leaving the three Avengers so share concerned glances with each other, looking ba ck over at the fallen body of Cull Obsidian before they followed her into the jet.

~8~

Athena sat in the back of the quinjet, nearest to where the ramp would descend, her head resting against the cool metal, her left arm was curled up close to her body, between it and the ramp, with her right arm draped across her middle, her right hand resting on her upper arm is it lightly stroked the skin there, lost in thought. She glanced up for only a moment when Steve sat down across from her, resting against part of the ramp himself.

"Anything you want to talk about?" he asked her after a few minutes of silence.

"There's nothing much to say," she replied.

Steve gave a small nod at that, but looked back at her, "I know it's not the same thing, I wasn't as close to..." he trailed off, thinking of an almost-love he'd lost once, "As you were to Thor, but I do know what it's like to lose someone you love. I know what it feels like to want revenge against something for hurting you, but you _can't_ let it get inside your head. That back there, what you did to that creature, why'd you do it?"

"It had to be stopped, the Children of Thanos are his most powerful weapons. Four of them attacked our ship, three of them are dead now, one hopefully will be soon enough. That is four advantages Thanos will no longer have."

"I get that, but why'd you draw it out so long?"

Athena looked away, though there was not much to look at. She could either look at the rest of the Avengers sitting in the quinjet, knowing that Natasha and Sam were on edge with her around now after what she done, and watching Wanda fret over Vision, still having her love with her. Or she could look at the bleak medal of the ramp door...she chose the door.

"...I couldn't stop myself," Athena admitted after quite a while.

Steve frowned at that, hearing more in her words than he knew she intended to reveal. She wasn't saying it in a sense of that something was just too tempting, but almost as though she literally could not keep herself from fighting in any other way than the way she had, "What do you mean?"

Athena looked up, appearing to Steve as though it were a move made to try and keep from crying or revealing emotion, but there was absolutely no tears in her eyes. Eventually she did look back and him, "What do you know about my people?" she asked him, "About the Olympians?"

He shook his head, "I know there's a Pantheon...or a Parthenon...something a-non. I know that you were thought to be gods and goddesses while you were on Earth, like Thor's people, and then you left. I know that you were the Goddess of Wisdom, and there are other gods that handle different things. The underworld, the ocean, love, war. There's something about a war with a giant horse..."

Athena actually snorted at the last one, for his description of the Trojan War and how it lasted 10 years and all he recalled from it was there was a horse. Steve cracked a smile though, pleased he managed to get something out of her that wasn't cold and distant.

"Did you ever wonder why we left?" Athena asked though she could tell from Steve's expression that he had never given it much consideration. She let out a long breath as she debated whether or not she should actually tell him, or how much she should. But with Thor gone, it would be best that at least one person knew the truth, could understand why she acted so.

"No," Steve finally answered, "But I guess maybe new religions moving in?"

"We became corrupt on the power we held over the humans," Athena stated bluntly, absently rubbing her arm, "And, eventually, that corruption became wanting to have more power over each other. We became cruel and heartless and greedy. We were heading towards a war amongst each other that would have _devastated_ the humans...and we wouldn't have cared," she said the last part so simply, but Steve could hear in her voice just how ashamed she was of it, "Luckily for them, something happened and we realized where we were heading, and we were able to pull ourselves away. We locked ourselves in Olympus and swore to never have anything to do with humans ever again, to avoid the temptation they brought to us."

Steve nodded slowly, understanding there was likely far more to the story than what she was saying, but understanding it was a deeply personal and shameful one for her to even begin to share with him, "That couldn't have been easy."

"Understatement of the millennia," Athena spoke, shaking her head at the memory, "Some of us fought it, some of us raged against it, some of us became so disgusted with what we saw in our reflections that we spent the rest of our lives trying to make up for the pain we caused. We call them the Dark Days, a time that proved to us that we were even more flawed than the humans we lorded over. It is our deepest shame, but our greatest reminder of exactly what our weaknesses are, of just how easily the darkness can infect us. Rage and pain and grief and _loss_..."

"Thor," Steve finally understood, "Losing him, how you feel, it's reminding you of those days."

"Yes. I'm trying my best to resist giving in to the temptation to cause that harm all over again, because of how much hurt I feel," she knew she was failing at that, her last round with a Child of Thanos was proving it, "It's hard. I haven't had time to _stop_ since this began."

Steve swallowed at the crack in her voice, realizing she really hadn't had time to properly mourn or grieve in her own way, it had just been fight after fight, and he knew it wasn't over yet. As much as he wanted to, they would need her too much when Thanos finally arrived to let her rest even now, "I am sorry for your loss," he finally got to tell her.

Athena could only nod, and rest her head back on the ramp in a sign that the conversation was over.

~8~

Steve held up a hand as the Avengers slowly made their way down the hall of what had once been their base. They could hear Rhodes, War Machine, speaking to someone from within the main center of the base. Steve had briefly explain to Athena what the situation was with Tony, what had caused the Avengers to disassemble. It was more than just Iron Man fighting against Captain America over the fate of what was called the Winter Soldier. It was more than just the Winter Soldier being brainwashed into killing Tony Stark's parents. Apparently the fallout from Sokovia and Ultron had been something that the Avengers were being blamed for, all the death and destruction. There was an agreement that the government wanted all of the Avengers to sign and, from what she understood, granted she'd only half been paying attention, Steve had been against it with about half of the Avengers, Tony had been for it along with the other half.

Eventually it had led to a massive showdown between both factions, something that ended with those who opposed the agreement being locked away in cells and treated as criminals. Apparently the only ones who had escaped this prison sentence was Natasha, Sam, and Steve. Everyone else was expected to take a deal or serve out their sentence. Wanda might have escaped as well, though she was expected to report in her whereabouts to Steve to make sure she wasn't in danger.

But the Avengers were not allowed to assemble again was the basics of what she'd gathered.

"Still no word from Vision?" they could hear a man speak as they approached the opening into the room at the end of the hall. Athena could make out a hologram of sorts, an older man with white hair speaking to Rhodes. While she didn't know much about Earth, she did know that, for a man to be dressed the way he was and have access to the Avengers base the way he did, he must be an official of a government.

"Satellites lost him somewhere over Edinburgh," Rhodes reported, though he didn't appear to notice the group silently making their way towards him.

"On a stolen quinjet with four of the world's most wanted criminals."

Athena narrowed her eyes at the man's words, not quite understanding the situation or the context for them. From what she understood, the Avengers had assembled because people higher up who had power wanted a group of heroes to be there to defend the Earth. And yet these people were being targeted now for doing exactly what the governments of the world had wanted them to do in defending the Earth. Did they not understand the concept of battle? Did they not understand that destruction would follow whenever major battles took place? What did they expect to happen if the Earth was invaded by outside forces and they had someone there to fight back?

Even during the time she and her family had been on Earth, battles took place and cities and civilizations suffered for it. Then again, she didn't have all of the facts, there might be more to the situation than either Steve or Tony had told her. History was written by the victors, though it didn't appear that either side had won in this battle.

"You know they're only criminals because _you've_ chosen to call them that, right, sir?" Rhodes asked the man, seeming to be of the same mind as Athena.

"My God, Rhodes, your talent for horseshit rivals my own," the government official responded with a scoff.

But Rhodes wasn't finished, "If it weren't for those Accords, Vision would've been right here."

"I remember _your signature_ on those papers, Colonel."

"That's right. And I'm pretty sure I've paid for that."

"Do you have second thoughts?"

"Not anymore."

Rhodes looked over as he heard someone approaching, to see Captain America, Black Widow, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Vision, and Athena in the doorway. He took a brief moment to look at them, drawing the attention of the hologram over to the group at as they gathered. Athena was sure they must look something quite alarming judging by the expression on his face. She certainly knew that Steve, Natasha, and Sam did not at all appear how she last remembered them.

Steve had grown his hair longer, growing out something of a beard as well, his uniform nearly black with age and wear. Natasha's trademark red hair was gone, replaced by very short blonde hair, her uniform equally as black. While she had only met Falcon recently, having first being introduced to him at Tony's party just before Ultron attacked later that night, she could tell he looked a little more battle-worn as well. Wanda and Vision both had cuts and scrapes on their face and bodies, Vision's a little more noticeable in his middle section as he leaned heavily in between Wanda and Sam. And she was sure she herself must look a state, she had thrown herself into battle against the Children of Thanos and she hadn't stopped to take care of herself beyond wrapping her arm in a bandage. She had shifted the small cape that she wore in the back of her armor just over her left arm so that the others wouldn't be able to see how her skin was gray up to her shoulder now.

"Mr. Secretary," Steve greeted as the hologram came face-to-face with them.

The man gave him a hard look, his lips pursed in a show of disgust, shaking his head in disappointment, "You got some nerve. I'll give you that."

"You could use some of that right now," Natasha countered, stepping up to Steve's side in a show of solidarity.

"The world's on fire," the hologram turned so it was nearer to Rhodes, but still keeping the Avengers in sight, "And you think all is forgiven?"

Steve just shook his head, "I'm not looking for forgiveness. And I'm way past asking for permission. Earth just lost her best defender. So we're here to fight. And if you wanna stand in our way...we'll fight you, too."

Athena couldn't even muster a smirk when she heard Sam mutter that they should let HER at the man if he tried to stop them. Any other time she would have smiled and been proud, made a remark in the affirmative or some sort of veiled threat to the hologram. But right now, it just made a pit in her stomach.

The man seemed a cross between glaring and scoffing as he turned to look at Rhodes, "Arrest them."

"All over it," Rhodes muttered, before waving his hand at the hologram and casting it off, disconnecting the call. He took a moment to turn to the Avengers, releasing a deep breath, "That's a court-martial," he told them, before smiling and stepping towards Steve, "It's great to see you, Cap."

Steve gave him a firm nod, reaching out to shake his hand, "You too, Rhodey."

"Hey," Rhodes continued as he turned to give Natasha a quick hug, nodding his head in greeting at Sam and the others, "Well, you guys really look like crap. Must've been a rough couple of years."

Sam scoffed at that, "Yeah, well, the hotels weren't exactly five star."

"I think you look great," a voice spoke behind them and they turned to see Bruce Banner slowly making his way into the room, clearly having been able to make it to the Avengers' Base as Athena had instructed him, "Yeah..." he said slowly, noting their shock, "I'm back."

Natasha swallowed hard, "Hi, Bruce."

Right, Athena nodded to herself, she knew she'd forgotten to tell the others something in all the chaos that was Thanos and his Children...

"Nat."

"This is awkward..." Sam murmured behind them, earning an odd look from Vision for the phrase.

Banner stepped closer, as though he were going to try and hug some of his friends, when he caught sight of Athena, " Jeez, Tina. You ok?"

Athena's jaw clenched, her grip on her sword, which she had yet to let go of or set down since the quinjet landed, tightened, "What have I said about calling me _Tina_?"

Banner just held up his hands in surrender, earning a small chuckle from a few of the Avengers.

~8~

It was solemn and tense in the Avengers' base after all of the information that they had gathered about Thanos had been revealed, all of his plans and information about the attacks that had happened. Athena was able to tell them about the attack on the sanctuary ship, how the Space Stone was in the Tesseract which Thanos had taken, how he already had the Power Stone. Banner went on to continue by explaining the last attack in New York, how a Child of Thanos had managed to take the Time Stone along with an ally up to its spaceship, Iron Man and Spider Man going with it to try and save him. Wanda and Vision added in their own intel from their time in Scotland, the attack that had happened against them in an attempt to get the Mind Stone.

"He has the Power Stone and the Space Stone," Athena summarized, absently taking an angle in her stance that kept her one side out of view of the others, "He may have the Time Stone now, the Soul Stone has been hidden as far as I am aware, but the fact that Thanos didn't come to Earth himself for the other two stones makes me fear he has gone after the Reality Stone."

"And if his kids failed," Rhodes continued, seeing the next course of action, "We gotta assume he's going to come for the Mind Stone himself."

"If his Children could find us, I don't doubt Thanos can as well," Wanda sighed as she rubbed her forehead, careful of a scratch there.

"We need all hands on deck," Banner began, "Where's Clint?"

"After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott took a deal," Natasha explained, "It's too tough on their families. They're on house arrest."

"Who's Scott?"

"Ant Man," Steve answered.

"There's an Ant Man _and_ a Spider Man?" Banner looked around, but it was Rhodes who nodded.

"Is that really a matter of concern right now?" Athena cut in.

"Right, right," he nodded, "Thanos has the biggest army in the Universe. And he is not gonna stop until he...he gets Vision's stone."

"Well then, we have to protect it," Natasha said, as though it were simple as that.

Athena opened her mouth to say it would be better to destroy the stone, only for vision himself to say the same thing, "No, we have to destroy it," everyone looked over at the robot as he continued to speak, "I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head, about its nature. But also its composition. I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something...very similar to its own signature," he began to make his way over to Wanda, "Perhaps...its molecular integrity could fail."

"And you with it," Wanda reminded him, "We're _not_ having this conversation."

"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it."

"It is a wise strategy," Athena mumbled, not pleased to have to say it, but feeling it needed to be said. The _last thing_ she would want is for Wanda to lose the man she loved either, so there had to be some way to get the stone without harming Vision...there HAD to...

But Wanda shot her a fierce glare, "It's also too high a price."

"Only you have the power to pay it," Vision said quietly to Wanda, however the woman turned and strode away. Vision sighed, "Thanos threatens half the Universe. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him."

"But it should," Steve argued, "We don't trade lives, Vision."

"Captain, 70 years ago you laid down your life to save how many millions of people? Tell me, why is _this_ any different?"

"Because you might have a choice," it was Banner who answered, "Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. Jarvis, Ultron, Tony, me, the stone. All of them mixed together. All of them learning from one another."

"You're saying Vision isn't just a stone?" Wanda asked, hopeful.

"I'm saying that...if we take out the stone, there's still a whole lot of Vision left. Perhaps the best parts."

Natasha frowned, "Can we do that?"

"Not me. Not here."

"Well you better find someone and somewhere fast," Rhodes reminded them, "Ross isn't just gonna let you guys have your old rooms back."

Steve nodded to himself, "I know somewhere."

"Even if we extract the stone and somehow manage to destroy it before Thanos can obtain it," Athena began, "He is still in possession of at least two, possibly four other, Infinity Stones. That still makes him the most powerful being in the universe just possessing two. When he comes for the Mind Stone, how do you expect to fight him?"

"Well, where we're going, we may have an army," Steve remarked.

"If he gets possession of the Time Stone, with a snap of his fingers he can freeze your army in time and pick them off one by one," Athena reminded him, "If we have any hope of facing down Thanos when he comes for Vision, we're going to need a weapon."

It was only thing she could think of. No strategy in the world would be enough to face down Thanos if they didn't have a weapon to fight him with in the first place. But there weren't enough resources on Earth that could forge a weapon like that fast enough or get them to Nidavellir, which was the only place in the universe she could think to find a weapon strong enough to fight off the titan. She could try to contact her family, but for Hephaestus to make that powerful a weapon...

She straightened at that, as a thought hit her, which must have been obvious to the others for Natasha spoke, "Do you know where we can get a weapon like that?"

Athena hesitated to answer, swallowing hard. If she did this...if she got them that weapon...it stood a very good chance of making everything that much worse in the end.. But Thanos would be destroyed. She would have saved the Asgardian people and avenged her fallen love. That last one alone was enough to make any risk worth it.

She nodded slowly, "I just might," she looked up them, "But I'm going to need a jet."

A/N: Lol, great minds think alike :) Both Thor and Athena are going to be going after weapons to take out Thanos ;) ...I wonder what weapon Athena's thinking of...hmm... }:)

As for Cull Obsidian, in the movie it appeared that the Children came to Earth on 2 ships, Ebony Maw took one away and Proxima-Corvus had another. I figure there was at least a reasonable window/gap where Cull was stranded in the arctic long enough (before he somehow escaped and reunited with Proxima in the movie), where Athena could get to him. I think she took quite a bit of her frustrations out on him :( The other deaths were just too 'quick and painless' compared to the destruction and hurt they put her through.

Athena, while the goddess of Wisdom and Battle, also technically has a role to play when it comes to law and justice too, Sam has done his homework lol :) But who loves Steve for trying to check on Athena and talk to her about what's wrong? I know I do :')

Some notes on reviews...

While Corvus Glaive may be able to come back if his weapon exists, this is going to be largely based on the movies where they don't specify that detail. We didn't technically see Glaive die in the movie so we can assume Proxima lied to Cap and Natasha when they went to negotiate and that's how he came back in the movie. This is a reinterpretation of the movie and, in that sense, Athena officially ended him :( She's not playing around anymore, no fight to submission, it's all fight to the death for her from the moment Ebony Maw took Strange :'(

We're a little more than halfway through the story so we'll find out, for sure, what the gray is very soon ;)

Athena definitely may have terrified the Avengers in this chapter }:) She's certainly not letting Thanos keep any advantage if she can help it ;)

A big alteration with the death of the Children, yup, we'll have to wait and see what the end will be }:)


	7. Blessings

A/N: Urg, food poisoning is blah :( I felt a little better today but not by much :( I'm aiming for Sadie for tomorrow along with Thor so fingers crossed it happens ;)

~8~

Blessings

Athena stood before the Parthenon, standing at the bottom of the steps of the temple that had been dedicated to her and looking up at the ruins it now was. Wong's statement that she was walking on a dangerous path had never been more true. She and her family had taken an oath, not just that they would never again set foot on Earth and interfere with the lives of humans, but that they would never _ever_ return to the two places where their presence was worshiped with as much revelry as it had been.

Greece and Rome, they were forbidden areas. Their temples, the ones dedicated to them, their shrines, even more so.

She had broken that first oath, when she had agreed with Odin's request to go to Earth and keep an eye on Thor. She had tried her best not to interfere too much with human life, keeping close to Thor, keeping him on track. She tried to reconcile being on Earth all the other times with reminders that she was there to _help_. She tried to convince herself she was _only_ there to protect the humans, not harm them. That she was trying to make up for all of the awful things she had put them through in the Dark Days, to keep them safe now when she had failed to so long ago.

Thor didn't know, neither had Odin and Frigga, that she had sworn never to set foot on the planet again. She hadn't told them, she still hadn't told Thor, because she knew it would only lead to questions about why and, back then, she hadn't been ready to talk about the Dark Days yet. She tried to convince herself that her family would never find out and, if they never found out, then she wasn't technically breaking her oath to them. But she had psychics in her family, she had ones who observed the Earth even when they couldn't set foot on it, she had others that were aware of the goings-on down below. There were those on Earth who still worship them, still prayed to them in their own ways. They could hear the prayers, they could never deafen themselves to it, they just couldn't _do_ anything about it.

Zeus had forgiven her, had been _proud_ of her for _leaving_ Earth after each mission. He had given her an exemption to the oath that she was only ever to return there with Thor at her side. She hoped her father would forgive her for this, that she had no control over being sent Earth this time without him, that she had tried to avoid it and stay with Thor.

She just kept telling herself that she would leave as soon as Thanos was vanquished, that she needed to leave, she still had to go find his people.

She wasn't sure how much she believed that.

Thor had been planning to take his people _to_ Earth, to start a new life there, had mentioned Norway, where Odin and Frigga had said their last goodbyes. It hasn't fully hit her, what the implications would mean of that. She was Thor's chosen Queen, she would wed him one day, she loved him with everything in her. But she couldn't deny the fear that always struck her just setting foot on Earth, thinking about those days she had struggled so hard to put behind her. She had planned to talk with Thor once they had landed on Earth, once his people felt safe again, to express her concerns, perhaps even to contact her father and ask that the Asgardians be allowed into Olympus, that they could open their home to the refugees, there had been no way to contact them while on the ship nor a way to get to Olympus from there. When her family retreated to Olympus, they sealed ever path there. She could communicate with her family from Asgard or Earth, but they had only ever opened a path to Asgard. They might be able to open one more, one final doorway to Earth so his people could pass through before it was sealed once more. But she needed to be able to ASK them first, and right now her focus was on stopping Thanos, since Thor's people weren't there yet. She could admit though, a part of her did wonder what her family would say.

Her family had been just them for so long, she could imagine they would not be happy with her request. But if it came down to her staying on Earth, knowing what it could mean, knowing the danger of it, they would probably make an exception in that case.

It was all a mess now and she didn't know how to fix it.

Right now, as she stood looking up at her temple, she couldn't help the fear that surged through her as she looked down at the first step. If she did this, if she entered that temple, she would be breaking the most sacred oath she had ever given.

But the Avengers were counting on her and all life in the universe was depending on her getting a weapon that could stop Thanos.

She took a breath and moved up the steps, pausing in between the middle two pillars just at the top of the stairs. She clenched her hands into fists as she stood and looked at the empty space before her. She could still picture the statue of her that had stood within this Temple, the gifts and the jewels and the riches that her worshipers had left for her in tribute. She could still hear the prayers at they used to murmur in her name.

She blinked rapidly to keep the tears back and shook her head fiercely, forcing herself to walk further into the temple. She couldn't afford to think of anything else but getting the weapon. She paused right in the center of the temple, looking around at the pillars on all sides of her and down to the stone slab just beneath her feet. She stepped back off of it, kneeling to the ground and using her sword to pry the slab up, moving it to the side. It gave easily, felt like nothing at all next to her god-like power and strength.

She stared down at the stone that had been beneath the slab and waved her hand over it, the old magic placed on it recognizing her and a crude carving of an owl seemed to bleed out of the stone. She moved to hold her left hand out, but quickly snatched it back when she saw the wrappings around it. She looked down at her right hand instead and move to place it on the seal. It hovered just inches above the emblem, her entire body trembling as she tried to think of anything else that she could do besides this.

But there was nothing.

She took a deep breath and forced her hand down, gritting her teeth at the owl began to glow before she pulled away, watching as it seemed to melt away, creating a circle in the stone. She turned and grabbed a rag that she had taken with her from the quinjet, holding it in front of her hand as she reached down into the chamber that she had put within the slab, well hidden by magic. She wrapped the rag around the object beneath and pulled it out, revealing the most glorious sword she had ever seen in all her life.

It was _beautiful_ , with a golden hilt, flawless metal blade, so sharp it looked like it could cut through stone itself. It was truly the best workmanship Hephaestus had ever forged just for _her_ at the height of the Dark Days and imbued with extra fortifications from the metal it came from, making it nearly an unstoppable weapon when it was in her hand.

She tried to ignore the trembling in her right hand as she nearly had to force herself to slip it into the sheath at her hip, her usual sword hidden within the strap of her shield on her back.

She closed her eyes tight, knowing she couldn't pray to her family or her father for what she needed next, knowing they would hear her if she did, but hoping with everything in her heart that they would forgive her for this.

The sword was _never_ supposed to be there.

It was supposed to have been destroyed after the Dark Days.

But she had used a foul trick to fool her family into thinking she had gone along with their agreement when, in reality, she had stashed it away.

They had agreed, when they returned to Olympus, that _everything_ that had been tainted by the corruption they had felt was to be destroyed. Artemis and Apollo had destroyed their bows and arrows, Aries his sword and shield, Hephaestus his beloved Hammer, Zeus his thunderbolts, Poseidon his trident, and so many other weapons, so many other objects all destroyed. Hephaestus had remade versions of them, not as well of crafted or as powerful as they would have been during those days, but a comfort to them to hold once more, a sign that they were moving on and moving forward and were no longer held back by what happened.

She had thrown a sword in among the other weapons and her family had never doubted that it was the real thing, not even Aries could guess her next move when it really came down to it. But it wasn't, she held her real sword in her sheath right now.

She didn't like to admit where her mind had been during those days, but she had anticipated that the Dark Days would not end so easily, that her family would continue on their path even on Olympus, and she would need her most prized weapon in that event. They would have all destroyed their weapons, but _she_ would have hers, and so she would come out victorious against them. So she hid it. Here.

It made her sick to think that she had actually thought ahead to a point where she had truly planned to destroy her family in such a way, that she would go so far as to hide her most powerful weapon on Earth with the intention to return and claim it.

As it turned out, she had been wrong. Her family had proven stronger than the corruption. They had pushed past the Dark Days and kept to their oaths, kept to each other, and helped each other heal instead of tear each other down. She had never returned to Earth to take her sword back for conquest. She had kept to her oath for...centuries. Only to break it now, for here she was standing there, back on Earth, needing her weapon to destroy an enemy.

It just wasn't the enemy she thought it would be when she first hid it.

She quickly replaced the stone slab back where it had been and pushed herself to her feet, staggering back towards the pillars in the front of the temple, feeling her entire body shaking with the effort it took to do what she had. To hold that sword in her hand once more, and resist using it, to set it aside. The last thing she _ever_ wanted to do was touch that blade again or even think of it, it was too much a reminder of what she'd done, of how far she'd fallen, of all the corruption that had infected her. But it might be their only chance at stopping Thanos.

She looked up at the quinjet sitting just before her and swallowed hard, there was just one more place she needed to go to make sure of that.

~8~

Thor stood in the back of the small pod that Rocket was flying as they drifted through space, the tree, Groot, on a chair off to the side, still playing his video game. Thor was looking out of a small window, watching the stars, unable to help but feel like they were moving far too slowly, that they needed to be at their destination already. Time was far too precious and he wished that the small pod would go faster. The sooner he could get a new hammer, the sooner Thanos would feel his wrath and the sooner he could be returned to Athena.

"I am Groot," the tree murmured, sounding somewhat petulant.

"Tinkle in the cup!" Rocket shouted back at him, starting to mutter to himself, the tree have been going on and on about how he needed to relieve himself for a while now, "We're not looking. What's there to see? What's a twig? Everybody's seen a twig."

"I am Groot!" now the tree sounded quite horrified at the suggestion.

"You can pour what's in the cup out in space then go in the cup again," Thor cut in, understanding that Groot was trying to con Rocket into pulling over to a different planet by claiming he needed to go more than what a cup would hold.

Rocket spun around in his chair to face Thor, "You speak Groot?!"

"Yes," Thor glanced back at him, "They taught it on Asgard. It was an elective."

He was quite sure, though he wasn't certain, that Athena herself might also understand this language. Or perhaps a dialect of it. Apparently all tree-based languages shared the same common root, he wasn't sure if the pun was intended. There were beings that had lived on earth, during the time her family occupied it, called dryads, tree spirits. They all spoke their own unique language that humans could not understand, but they also spoke the language of the people as well. Apparently some of Athena's family members had close ties with these tree beings and she understood some of their language herself. He would have to ask her if that extended to Groot.

"I am Groot?" the tree-being called out with a sigh of impatience, asking if they were there yet.

"You'll know when we're close," Thor responded, "Nidavellir's forge harnesses the blazing power of a Neutron Star. It's the birthplace of my hammer; it's truly awesome."

Thor let out a very long sigh as he moved to sit on a small metal bench, resting his head in his hands, at the full weight of everything he had lost yet again. He had had hope, when they escaped Asgard, that things would be well. He had lost his father and mother, but gained back his brother, he lost his home, but his people were safe, he lost his hammer but regained a strength within, and he had Athena beside him.

Now he had nothing. His brother was gone, his people were lost, and Athena was trapped on Earth with no knowledge of whether he survived, and he had no knowledge of her well-being either. He could assume that the Children of Thanos had made it to Earth on their quest for the other two stones. And while he knew Athena would guard them with her life, the Children had managed to cut through him and a few of his people with such ease that he feared for her safety. He had hoped that the Avengers would assemble once more to aid her, but he didn't like leaving her in places where he couldn't be there to watch her back as she watched his. They were a team.

He looked up, shaken from his thoughts, when Rocket sat down across from him on another bench and began to speak, "So, dead brother, huh? That can be annoying."

"Well, he's been dead before," Thor shrugged, trying to be hopeful, but all he kept seeing every time he thought on it was the sound of bones crunching and Loki's body tossed before him, turning blue like a Frost Giant once more, "But this time...I think it really might be true."

"And you said that your sister and your dad..."

"Both dead."

"But, still got a mom, though?"

"Died with my father."

"Best friend?"

"Stabbed through the heart."

"What about that girl? You said you got a queen, didn't you?"

Thor smiled at the mention of Athena, "Athena lives, as far as I know. But being parted from her is almost a pain worse than death. I have lost much in such a short time, if I lost Athena as well..."

"You sure you're up for this particular murder mission?" Rocket asked, seeing that the man really seemed to be hanging on by a single strand, that girl. He wasn't about to vocalize the thought that the girl was probably dead. If these other Children of Thanos were anything like Gamora, had any of her skill, it would take a fearsome warrior to be able to hold them off. It didn't bode well for this Tina chick.

"Absolutely!" Thor tried to give a joyful cry, forcing a smile on his face, trying to make it seem like he was holding it together better than he was, but his voice shook and his words came out just a little too forced, "The rage, vengeance, anger, loss, regret, they're all tremendous motivators. They truly clear the mind. but more than that, I have a queen that I need to get back to. And Thanos is the only thing standing in my way from returning to her. So, I'm good to go."

"Yeah, speaking of Thanos...he's the toughest there is."

"Well, he's never fought me."

"...yeah, he has!"

"Well, he's never fought me TWICE! And I'll be getting a new hammer, don't forget."

"Well, it'd better be some hammer."

Thor fell silent for a moment, contemplating his history with his hammer, the enemies he had face down in the past, and the more recent enemy within his own family that he had bested. He thought about everything he had endured, everything Athena, even, had lived through that got them both to the point where they could meet each other. He recalled all the obstacles that had stood in their way, his arrogance, her fear of her past, and so much more, but they were both still there. No enemy they faced had been able to defeat them yet. There had to be a reason for it.

"You know, I'm 1,500 years old," Thor began, "I've killed twice as many enemies as that, I would even bet Athena has killed more, she is a fearsome woman and a skilled warrior. Every enemy we have faced would have rather killed us, but none succeeded. I'm only alive because Fate wants we alive. Thanos is just the latest in a long line of bastards, and he'll be the latest to feel my vengeance. Fate wills it so."

Rocket hesitated, not wanting to ask, but he had heard that kind of talk before and it never ended well, "And what if you're wrong?"

"If I'm wrong, then...what more could I lose?" Thor tried to smile, adding, "Athena already thinks me dead."

He swallowed hard at having to say that out loud, quickly brushing a finger under his eye before a tear could actually fall in front of such comrades, pushing himself up to move towards the front of the ship, done with the conversation. He could hear Rocket muttering to himself, before the creature moved to join him, holding something out to him.

"Well, if fate does want you to kill that crapsack, you're gonna need more than one stupid eyeball," Rocket offered him a small white sphere.

"What's this?"

"What's it look like? Some jerk lost a bet with me in Contraxia."

"He gave you his eye?" Thor took the sphere, turning it over in his hand as he observed the literal eyeball he was holding.

"No, he gave me 100 credits. I snuck into his room later that night and stole his eye."

"Thank you, sweet rabbit," Thor smiled at his offer, pulling the patch off of his left eye to push the eyeball into it.

Despite knowing that was the intention behind it, Rocket couldn't help but grimace at the action, "I would've washed that. The only way I could sneak it off Contraxia was up my...hey," he cut himself off, the ship slowing down enough that he noticed, "We're here."

Thor stood as he tried to peer out the pod, a deep frown on his face, "I don't think this thing works," he rubbed at the eyeball, "Everything seems dark."

"But it ain't the eye."

And indeed it wasn't. Thor had been to this area a few times now, most recently with Athena, and it had been thriving. The star at the heart of the system had been blazing, the rings around it spiraling, all the Dwarves at work at their various crafts, pleased that Thor and Athena had helped them with their latest threat. But right now it was dark, the star seem to have burned out, the rings were not spiraling any longer, but laying there idly.

It looked dead and abandoned.

"Something's wrong," Thor murmured, "The star's gone out. And the rings are frozen..."

Rocket glanced back at Thor, before maneuvering the pod closer to the docking bay on one of the rings. The small trio cautiously made their way out of the pod, Rocket holding a flashlight as they moved through, Groot still playing on his small video game. Thor kept shaking his head as he looked around, there were cobwebs and dust everywhere, everything in a state of disuse he wasn't used to. That shouldn't have been possible.

"I hope these dwarves are better at forging than they are at cleaning," Rocket commented, if just for something to say in the darkness, but it was as though every hall and every step was littered with junk, "Maybe they realized they live in a junk pile in the middle of space."

"The forge hasn't gone dark in centuries."

"You said Thanos had a gauntlet, right?" Rocket suddenly called.

"Yes. Why?"

"Did it look anything like that?"

Thor looked over where Rocket was shining his light, to see what appeared to be a model of Thanos's gauntlet...and he felt his heart plummet. The only reason something like that would be here was if it had been created there. And with that realization came a horrified notion of exactly what must have happened to the other Dwarves, the same thing that had happened to his own people.

"I am Groot..." Groot spoke, voicing the exact same thought that Thor just had.

"Get back to the pod," Thor turned to command them, intending to search the rest of the forge for anyone who might still be there. When, out of nowhere, there was a sound of thumping, before the group was attacked by a large mass. Thor managed to catch a glimpse of the attacker in the light of Rocket's flashlight, realizing exactly who it was. The Dwarf King himself, "Eitri, wait! Stop!"

The Dwarf seemed to recognize his voice, for he stilled in his attack and turned to face him, staring at Thor as though he couldn't believe what he was seeing, "Thor?"

"What happened here?"

"You were supposed to protect us!" Eitri raged at him, accusation heavy in his voice, "Asgard was supposed to protect us!"

Thor swallowed hard, "Asgard is destroyed," he stepped closer to the Dwarf, glancing at the model of the gauntlet sitting on a pedestal and back, "Eitri, what did you do?"

Eitri let out a sobbing breath as he staggered over to a wall and fell down against it, slumping over as he moved to the floor, completely broken down and disheartened, full of shame and guilt and heartbreak, "300 dwarves lived on this ring," he began to recount, "I thought if I did what he asked, they'd be safe. I made what he wanted. A device capable of harnessing the power of the stones. And he killed everyone anyway. All except me. 'Your life is yours,' he said. 'But your hands...your hands are mine alone.'"

Thor looked down at where Eitri had moved his arms to reveal stumps where his hands had been. Clearly Thanos had wanted to make certain that the Dwarves would not be able to craft any weapons that could stop him.

But there was something that Thanos had overlooked. Anyone can make a weapon, with the proper instruction. It was the _mind_ itself that was the true danger, and in leaving Eitri alive, Thanos had signed his own doom.

"Eitri, this isn't about your hands," Thor stepped closer and crouched down so he was eye level with the Dwarf, "Every weapon you've ever designed, every axe, hammer, sword, it's all inside your head. Now I know it feels like all hope is lost. Trust me, I know. But together, you and I, we can kill Thanos."

~8~

Athena never thought she would be standing here again. It never factored into her plans, even when she thought she might one day return to Earth, to have to go here. And there she was, breaking the second part of the oath she had made.

The Pantheon in Rome, it had first been built as a temple to worship all the gods, all of the deities, a small section of it having been dedicated to her though she had been called Minerva here.

And there she was, she had gone to Greece and Rome, both places she was _never_ to return to. All those years ago she never thought she would have a reason to return to either of them let alone both. Even during the days she thought she'd come back for her sword, she hadn't thought there would be a reason to come back to the Pantheon.

It was hard for her to stand there in the middle of it, the light of the sun shining down on her as it rose. Even after so long she could still feel the energy and magic of her family there. No matter how much the structure changed, no matter the new religions that took over, it had first and foremost been a place dedicated to her family. They had infused a blessing on the place, each of them adding a bit of magic to it...and that was what she needed now.

She really hoped her family would forgive her for taking their blessings away, but she couldn't pray to them and ask for the real thing now.

She looked around the room, noting the small notches where specific members of her family had once been represented.

"I call upon Morpheus," she began to intone, "God of dreams and reality. Zeus, King of the Gods, most powerful of us all. Hades, god of the dead and guardian of departed souls. Aether, god of space and the heavens. Cronos, god of time and founder of our line. And myself," her voice weakened on the last one, "Goddess of wisdom and the mind," she took a deep breath, watching as each alcove that held the particular god's blessing began to glow. Ironically, they matched the Infinity Stones in terms of color, "I beg of you, _please_ , for the sake of all life, grant me your blessing."

She wrapped the rag around her right hand and pulled her sword out of the sheath, holding it above her head. A moment later it lifted out of her grip and into the air, beams of light shining out from the alcoves to be absorbed by the sword. She let her hand fall back down to her side as she watched it begin to glow.

It was...a risk. Gaining these blessings from her particular family members, given the realms their reigned over, it _might_ gain an advantage against Thanos, maybe against the Infinity Stones. They would never be as powerful as the stones, even if the blessings were fresh. These blessings were centuries old.

But it might be enough to neutralize an attack from the stones long enough for her to land a blow to the titan...she would just have to make sure it was a killing blow.

A moment later the glowing began to fade and the sword started to fall.

Athena leapt forward, reaching out with her hand to grab it, not even realizing that she'd dropped the rag in her haste. The moment her hand touched the hilt, she fell to her knees, biting her lip to keep from screaming as a pain shot up her arm, nearly overwhelming her. She hadn't touched this blade in so long, she'd almost forgotten the power it took to control it.

A few minutes went by though it felt like a torture lasting hours, before she was able to push past it, her entire body trembling from the onslaught. She swallowed hard and forced the blade back into her sheath, nearly slumping forward at the relief of it. When something caught her attention...her right palm, where she'd held the sword, was speckled with small grey splotches now. She swallowed again, for a different reason, and curled her hand into a fist, closing her eyes.

She whimpered, feeling like she just wanted to curl in on herself, for a split moment wanting to give up and just... _stop_. For a single moment she couldn't help but think about Thor, and wonder why exactly she kept going when he wasn't there anymore. She knew she didn't have it in her to just give up, not for anything or anyone, she had the heart and the mind and the spirit of a warrior. She had sprung from her father's head dressed in armor with a weapon in her hand, she had literally been _born_ to battle, and that would never change. But touching that sword...it took so much out of her. For just the briefest moment she wished she wasn't a warrior, she wished she could just lay down, and stop, that she could just be with Thor one more time. She was just _so tired_ , and hurt, and she missed him _so much_.

She punched her fist against the floor of the Pantheon, shaking her head at her own thoughts. Thor would never have wanted that. Thor would have wanted her to keep fighting, to keep strong, he would never want her to give up. She had to keep reminding herself of that, the same as she would never want Thor to give up either. His people were still out there, lost and afraid, and Thanos was a threat not just to them. Too many lives rested on this for her to give up now.

So she pushed herself to her feet and made herself walk out of the Pantheon and back the quinjet, ready to punch in the final destination that had been pre-programmed, for Wakanda.

A/N: My heart broke through this entire chapter :( The guilt Athena felt in having to face that part of her past that was anticipating betraying her family, then Thor having that moment with Rocket, and Athena just being tortured by the raw power of her old sword :'( And the guilt, to have forethought in a sense of actually thinking of a way to use her family's oath and attempt to pull themselves out against them and plot to destroy them by hiding her sword, that's gotta be gut-wrenching :'(

I feel like that was something Athena would have thought of, a weapon is needed, but it had to be able to withstand the Stones. So she thought out of the box, turning to her family for help, but in a way that kept them from having to learn the oaths she was breaking. I felt like the Pantheon, being a temple for ALL the gods, would be something they'd all have something to do with. It's not everyday something like that was built so they'd want to sort of offer it a blessing. Athena had to transfer that magic into her sword to protect it from the Stones, or at least give her a chance to get close enough :(

But on a lighter note, we'll get some reactions to this 'powerful weapon' she went to collect in the next chapter ;)

I know Cronos is technically a titan and was taken down before the gods took over, but I figure they left some sort of magic behind that their kids could use to offer blessings even from them ;)

Poor Thor and Athena though :( This chapter was hard to write :'(

No real notes on reviews here, I don't want to give too much away ;)

But one thing that I'm feeling quite proud of...I've reached another million words archived :D With this chapter, I am now over 11 million words! :D


	8. The Avengers Reassemble

A/N: Ok, so tomorrow we'll be getting a triple feature :) Sadie in the morning, Thor in the afternoon, and Lyssa at night ;) Mondays were always my least favorite day of the week, so hopefully it'll make it a better day all around ;)

~8~

The Avengers Reassemble

Thor followed Eitri as the Dwarf led them through the darkened halls of the forge, having been inspired by Thor's speech and promise of destroying Thanos. There was one project he had been working on ever since he had heard of the attack the Jotuns made on Asgard, how Laufey had tried to kill Odin while he slept. He had been reminded in that moment that Thor would one day become king, even if the rumors said his coronation had been interrupted. A hammer was fine for a prince, but a _king_ would need a far more powerful weapon, which was just what they would need to truly kill Thanos. He'd had the foresight to keep that project well hidden even from his own people, as a result Thanos had not destroyed the mold he'd made for it.

Eitri came to stop just before one of the crucibles, where a box was set up just below it on a pedestal.

"This the plan?" Rocket asked as he eyed the small box with disdain, "We're gonna hit him with a brick?"

"It's a mold," Eitri explained, "A king's weapon. Meant to be the greatest in Asgard. In theory, it could even summon the Bifrost."

Thor smiled at the thought, if this worked it sounded like it would be the perfect weapon to use against Thanos and, what's more, it would give them direct passage back to earth, to Athena, "Does it have a name?"

'Athena' would be a perfect name for a weapon like that, the greatest in Asgard, meant for the king, unstoppable like the Bifrost...

"Storm breaker," Eitri stated.

Thor almost pouted at that, he had been hoping the weapon hadn't yet been named so he could name it himself.

"Yeah...it's a bit much," Rocket grumbled.

"It was meant to be part of a pair," Eitri murmured, looking at the mold with a sad expression, he hadn't gotten a chance to make a mold for the second weapon, "Storm Bringer, for the grey-eyed girl," he looked over at Thor for that, "She IS to be your Queen, yes?"

Thor felt himself smile smally at Eitri's description of Athena, "Aye."

The Dwarves had only met her once. They had been impressed with her knowledge of forges in general, thanks in part to her brother, and had even offered to make her a weapon like his hammer. She had politely turned them down. It appeared Eitri had wanted to make her one anyway, paired with Storm Breaker. The name was fitting, if he had to say, Athena's father was known as a cause of storms on Earth.

"Good," Eitri nodded, "We had a bet going...suppose it doesn't matter now though."

Thor shook his head out of his thoughts at that, giving Eitri a look for that, before focusing back on the issue at hand, how the weapon still had yet to be forged, "So how do we make it?"

"You'll have to restart the forge," Eitri told them, "Awaken the heart of the dying star."

Thor stepped closer to one of the windows of the forge, looking out at the center of the star, how it was just dull and gray and floating there without any life or heat to it. He looked up at the space around it, at the rings that surrounded the star, all of them frozen in place as though they hadn't moved in a very long time. From what he understood of the forge, the star was somewhat powered by the moving of the rings, they kept the energy of it locked in place, and the friction and the force created by the rings passing each other were what started up the star.

He would need to find a way to get the rings moving once more and it should act like a jump-start to the heart of the star.

He quickly took mental stock of all of the assets they had, all of the things they could use to try and get the rings going...when his gaze was caught by the small pod they had taken to reach the forge and he grinned.

"Rabbit, fire up the pod!"

~8~

Athena sat in the pilot's chair of the quinjet, though her back was turned to the main window so she could not see out. The jet had been pre-programmed with Wakanda's location, where Steve had said they would be going. It was operating on autopilot and she wouldn't need to do anything unless she was attacked for some reason. She sat somewhat hunched over, her elbows resting on her knees, her head in her hands, with her fingertips gently massaging at her temples. She was trying to gather herself, gather her focus as well as trying to refresh her energy.

Everything that had happened lately was just taking a great deal out of her. Battling the Hulk on Sakaar, jumping from spaceship to spaceship to stop the guards coming after them as they fled, facing down and Undead Army single-handedly as she tried to protect the Asgardians while they boarded the ship. She had only had a short while to rest at the healers' orders but even then it had been restless and she hadn't been able to calm her mind enough to truly rest as they had likely hoped for her to do. And then there was the spar with the Valkyrie and the attack on the sanctuary ship, landing on Earth without proper preparation from the Bifrost, battling yet another Child of Thanos, and then instantly going into another attack with two more before she could finally finish three off.

She felt like she was breaking down, both physically and emotionally and mentally. So many battles, so much fighting, so much loss and heartbreak. She honestly wasn't sure how much more of this she could take without being allowed the time to properly mourn for Thor. She had brought this on herself, pushing and pushing and pushing to make sure that she was keeping everyone else safe. She had not allowed herself any time to stop and she knew she couldn't afford to do so now. The Mind Stone was the last stone to be found on Earth, and Thanos _would_ be coming for it, she was sure of it. If they didn't find a way to stop him with Vision the entire universe would suffer for it.

She just had to last a little bit longer, she just needed to get _one shot_ at Thanos and she would make it count.

And she knew that chance would be coming, sooner than she was probably ready for if she had to be honest. It was why she was sitting there with her back to the main windshield and not watching where the ship was going. She didn't want to know how close she was to Wakanda, because once the ship set down in that country, it would be time for the battle. She didn't want to know just how little time she had left to herself, to try and refocus everything. It would never be enough.

Being what she was, being a goddess, especially one of battle, she had more endurance than an average human, more stores of strength. She would be able to pick her sword up and go to battle after battle after battle without wearing down the same way. Even just sitting down on this trip back from Rome, she could feel her strength returning to her, the knowledge of all that was coming helping to fuel that even more. It was like her body knew a war was approaching and was trying to prepare her for it, the adrenaline that usually built up in a fight had already begun to fill her. It was her mind that was in chaos. She knew she had to be in this battle, no one, not even a single Avenger, would be able to wield her sword but her. But that didn't mean a small part of her didn't wish it was different, didn't want to have to be the one to make this blow.

She just kept reminding herself she was doing this for Thor, she was doing this for him and his people and every other person that Thanos had ever slaughtered on his quest for these Infinity Stones. She was doing this to protect other people, so they wouldn't have to suffer the loss of someone they loved the way she had. She would never be able to say how relieved she had been to hear Banner say that they might be able to extract the stone from Vision without damaging him, without destroying him. Granted she hadn't been on earth very long, she had missed quite a lot since the last time she was there, but she could see just from how Wanda and Vision interacted that they loved each other. She would never want to have to force Wanda to lose the man she loved.

She heard a beeping noise behind her and knew that was likely a signal that she was approaching Wakanda. But she didn't want to turn around. From what Steve told her, he had spoken with the King of Wakanda and gotten special codes that would allow her to pass into the country without any issue. The ship would even land itself, so there was really no need for her to look. If she didn't look she could pretend she had a little while longer before she had to throw herself back into battle.

She swallowed hard and forced herself to sit up a little straighter, her hands leaving her temples and coming to rest on the sword and its sheath as it rested across her lap, one hand on the tip of the blade the other on the hilt. She looked down at the sword, her hands tightly gripped around where they were resting. It had been _so long_ since she had possessed this particular weapon and she both wished that she had destroyed it along with the rest of her family's weapons...and was relieved that she hadn't, for it might be the only thing that could stop Thanos.

She forced herself to look away, turning the chair to stare out the windshield as the ship began to approach what looked like a very high-tech city. If it was a choice between staring at the sword or staring at her approach, she would choose Wakanda. Until her sword was driven into Thanos's beating heart, the only thing it was good for at the moment was a stark reminder of just how terrible she had been during the Dark Days. The fact that she had actually hidden this sword on earth, that she had actually doubted she would stay with her family while they left Earth, spoke volumes to her. She had been the only one of her family to do such a thing. A sound strategy in the moment, but something that filled her with guilt and disgust now.

She stood just as the ship began to lower, able to see the first quinjet, the one Steve and the others had brought her, Vision and Wanda to their base in, already set down. She could make out what appeared to be women in a red suits of armor before she had turned to make her way to the ramp. If this battle was going down she would rather get it over with as soon as possible, there was no time to spare any longer. She waited till the ship made the tell-tale thump of landing, before she pushed a button to release the ramp.

She made her way down to see Captain America, Black Widow, and the Falcon approaching, with another black man and one of the red-garbed Warriors beside him, Vision and Wanda approached at a slower pace with Banner seeming to be examining Vision as they went.

"Athena," Steve greeted, gesturing to the man who stood beside him, "This is T'Challa, the King of Wakanda. He's opened his home to us to help Vision and also provide assistance against Thanos."

Athena didn't know how else to respond but to give a strong nod to T'Challa. There are only two kings in her life, and this man was neither her father nor Thor.

"Did you get the weapon?" Natasha came right out and asked, always seeming to be the one more aware of the threats that surrounded them.

Athena swallowed hard, but put her right hand on the hilt of the blade, and pulled it from its sheath to show them, her hand wrap tightly in a cloth torn from the bottom of her small cape, both for protection against the blade, and to cover up the gray splotches.

"...a sword?" Sam asked, glancing between the others, not quite sure what he was expecting but, given all he knew of Thanos, it wasn't exactly something as simple as a sword, " _That's_ the great weapon that's supposed to take down a titan?"

"It has in the past," Athena remarked, turning the blade somewhat in her hold, examining it in the sunlight, "And I'm fairly certain when _I_ say _Titan_ it's something infinitely more powerful than the species Thanos is without the stones."

And indeed it was, the Titans that came before her family were said to be even more powerful than the gods themselves. They were the children of creation, much more connected to that pure cosmic energy than the gods were. When Hephaestus had made her true sword, he had told her that he used one of the weapons the Titans themselves had taken up in the battle against the Gods. He had melted it down and recast it for her and her alone. He doubted that any of the other gods, at least any of her siblings, would be able to wield it against her or wield it at all. _She_ was the child of _a Titan_ , Metis, where her siblings were the children of Gods.

And when the Dark Days had taken hold of them, one or two of the Titans had been released from their prisons and used to distract or to destroy. She had killed one of them herself using this blade and, from what she had observed of Thanos, without the Infinity Stones he was not as hard to kill as a true Titan.

"All I need is one chance," she remarked, "Just _one chance_ to get close enough to Thanos to land a blow, and I'll make sure it's one he cannot recover from."

"You?" the red-clad warrior standing next to T'Challa spoke, eyeing Athena up and down.

She knew she still looked quite a sight, the fact that she still appeared so beaten and bruised and exhausted probably did not lend much to the image of the true warrior that she was. But she was not the goddess of battle for nothing, "If any of you try to even _touch_ this blade, the power contained within it would overwhelm you, and burn you from the inside out," she returned the sword back into its sheath.

"If Thanos is as powerful as you say he is, how can you be sure that it will work against him?" T'Challa asked, though there was a wisdom to his question.

"Because I made sure to ensure that this sword would be able to hold its own against the Infinity Stones."

"How the hell did you do that?" Steve sounded shocked.

Athena looked over at him, "All the Infinity Stones hold the cosmic power of the realms in which they are named, but they're not the only ones who have some semblance of control over them. I begged of my family for their blessings upon this weapon, Zeus, Morpheus, Cronos, Aether, Hades, and myself. It may not be able to overpower the Infinity Stones for long, but it should be able to neutralize their effects for the briefest of moments. And I only need one to land an attack."

"You got the gods of power, reality, time, space, soul, and mind to empower the weapon," Banner spoke as he made his way over to them, "That's genius."

"Goddess of Wisdom," Athena gestured to herself.

"And battle, from what I understand," T'Challa spoke, "And speaking of battle, how big of an assault should we expect?"

The man turned, leading them towards what appeared to be the main palace of the area. Now that they had a weapon, they needed to come up with a battle strategy and, in order to do that, they needed to know exactly what they were going to be up against.

"I think you should expect quite a big assault," Banner answered.

"From what we've been able to determine, Thanos has the largest army that the Universe has seen yet," Athena added, striding along with them.

"How are we looking?" Natasha continued, turning to T'Challa for that, they needed to know the army they would have to stand against Thanos in order to make their new plan.

"You will have my Kingsguard," he listed, "The Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje. And..."

"A semi-stable 100-year old man," someone spoke as they neared the entrance to the palace. Athena looked up to see a man with slightly long brown hair, with what appeared to be a black metal arm approach and smile at Steve.

"How have you been, Buck?" Steve returned the smile...and Athena realized this must be the Winter Soldier.

"Not bad, for the end of the world."

"Come," T'Challa called, leading them into the palace, "Our best scientific researcher is waiting to assess Vision."

~8~

Thor stood on one of the rings of the forge, nearby the pod that Rocket was sitting in. There was a small field around the forge, created by the Dwarves for their survival. In case anything on the outer rings needed to be repaired they would be able to go out and fix it. He was using that to his advantage now as he fixed the pod to the end of a chain, making sure it was secure. His plan wouldn't work if the pod was able to fly away or if the chain broke. He could only hope that the chain would be strong enough to withstand what he planned to do, nothing had been kept in very good shape and he hoped the chain would last long enough to at least restart the forge.

"I don't think you get the scientifics here," Rocket called out to him on a small communication device, "These rings are gigantic. You wanna get them moving, you gonna need something a lot bigger to yank them loose!"

Thor couldn't help but smirk to himself, he hadn't exactly told Rocket _all_ of his plan for how to restart the forge. He had merely said that he was going to use the pod to pull the rings into starting once more. He hadn't elaborated on just _how_ he was going to be doing that. The pod would be able to pull all it wanted if it was fixed to the edge of the ring, but it would take a little bit more force to actually get them moving. That's why he was there too.

"Leave that to me," he called back, moving into the right position and winding the chain around his arm in preparation.

"Leave it to _you_? Buddy, you're _in space_. All you got is a rope and a..."

Before Rocket could even finish his statement Thor had yanked the chain back, pulling the pod to him as though it weighed absolutely nothing, which made sense as it was space. But the forge generated its own gravitational pull, which was how he was able to stand fixed to the forge without flying off into space himself. He didn't let the pod hit him though, merely gripped the chain harder and spun in a circle, swinging the pod around as though it were a ball on the end of a string. He could hear Rocket from within, screaming from the force and momentum of it.

A moment later, when he was sure that he had gotten enough force behind it, Thor threw the pod towards space, shouting out, "Fire the engines!" to Rocket, who quickly did as he was told and the engines flared to life.

Thor hadn't quite realized just how powerful the tiny pod was, as he found himself being pulled along by it, losing his footing and being dragged quite literally down one of the rings. He struggled to find purchase, to get a grip of anything nearby, before he dug his heels into the side of the ring. Metal began to give way beneath his feet, piling up in front of him but creating enough of a mound for him to get a foothold and stop.

He let out a strained groan as he tried to keep hold of the chain and not let himself be pulled off the edge of the ring, but it wasn't enough just yet, the rings weren't moving, they were creaking nut not moving, "More power, rabbit!"

A moment later more thrusters went off on the ship and he could feel it, the rings starting to move once more. He held on tightly, watching as the Neutron Star in the center begin to heat up again now that the rings were working. It didn't take much more past that to get the rings aligned, the Neutron Star now blazing in place again.

It was truly a sight to behold.

"That's Nidavellir!" Thor called over the communication system to Rocket. He let go of the chain experimentally, testing the rings were not about to move out of sync again, before he let go entirely, freeing Rocket and the pod.

He nearly let out a whoop of joy, knowing that this would mean they'd finally get the weapon they needed to face down Thanos. They just needed to heat the crucibles, pour the metal into the mold, fix on a handle, and he would be back to Earth and back to Athena.

But then came a cry from Eitri just at the edge of the forge ring, "Damn it!"

"Damn it?" Rocket repeated, "What's damn it?"

"The mechanism is crippled."

Thor turned around from where he stood at the edge of the ring to see Eitri standing in a doorway, just to the side of where the rings opened up and aligned to the heart of the Neutron Star, "What?"

"With the iris closed, I can't heat the metal."

Thor looked down at the metal nearest the Star where he could see a small shutter in the middle of it had shut closed. If they couldn't get that shutter open, they would never be able to siphon off the heat from the Star to melt the metal in the Crucible and make the weapon. He shook his head, he had come too far and he was too close to getting that weapon and returning to Athena to give up now. It was hell to be away from her, to have her thinking him dead broke his heart every time he thought of it. He was _not_ going to allow this to keep him from her, there _had_ to be something he could do.

"How long will it take to heat it?" Thor called over to Eitri.

"A few minutes, maybe more. Why?"

Thor nodded to himself, a plan in place...though he was quite sure that this particular strategy was one Athena would _not_ at all be happy with had she been there. But Athena wasn't there and he was not going to let himself be parted from her any longer, "I'm gonna hold it open."

"That's suicide!"

"So is facing Thanos without that axe," Thor countered, looking down at the shutter once more, before jumping off of the ring he stood on and heading right for it...

~8~

When T'Challa had said they were going to meet his best scientific researcher, Athena had envisioned...well, she wasn't sure exactly what she had envisioned, but she was certain it was not a 16 year old girl. But as she watched the young woman work and examine Vision, using what appeared to be the highest of technology, she was not about to say she was disappointed with what she saw. She had always been one to value intelligence over anything else, and the woman before her was clearly very bright.

Vision was laying on a table with the young woman, Shuri, T'Challa's younger sister, standing over him, scanning him with a device on her wrist. When she reached the Mind Stone in his forehead it glowed briefly, before she turned her wrist over and held her hand out, a 3D projection of the Mind Stone hovering just over her palm.

"The structure is polymorphic," Shuri determined, murmuring to herself, sounding both surprised and impressed.

"Right," Banner agreed, "We had to attach each neuron non-sequentially."

Shuri gave him a look that Athena could only described as being confused by something that should have been so obvious it didn't make sense to her why someone would say such a thing, "Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?"

All eyes turned to Banner as he seemed to stutter, actually looking like he was at a loss for words at the suggestion.

"Because...we didn't...think of it?"

"I'm sure you did your best."

Athena felt herself starting to smile for the first time in a long while at Shuri's words. It reminded her something of when she and her siblings would sometimes get into mock battles, or arguments, or if one of her siblings wanted to invent something new. Often they would agonize over it for hours, or years, trying to work out how to do something or what move they should make next, and, very often, it was usually _her_ that had made some sort of comment or offered a suggestion on what they could have done differently that had them realizing it would have been better and faster and easier had they done so. Usually she was the one thinking of answers no one else seemed to realize, she could relate very much to Shuri in that moment.

"Can you do it?" Wanda spoke from where she was standing near the window, watching the scanning of Vision intently.

"Yes, but there are more than 2 trillion neurons here," Shuri warned them, "One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures," she glanced over at T'Challa, "It will take time, brother."

"How long?" Steve asked.

"As long as you can give me."

"Is there anyway you can use that time blessing to give her more of it?" Banner looked over at Athena, gesturing towards her sword.

She only shook her head, "If I use the blessing now, it will make the sword, and myself, susceptible to Thanos using the Time Stone against it later."

"Assuming he's gotten it from Strange," Banner argued.

"It's better to assume he's coming at us with all of the stones except for Vision's, than to assume he only has two and be surprised later."

"...good point."

A small beep sounded and Okoye, T'Challa's general who was standing beside him, held out her hand, a 3D projection of its own appearing over her palm as she read the report, "Something's entered the atmosphere."

"Hey Cap, we got a situation here!" Sam's voice rang out over the communication system and they quickly moved over to the windows and looked out.

They could see something in the sky, heading straight for Wakanda, either a ship or some sort of bomb they couldn't tell what it was, looking as though it was meant to drop right in the center of the city. But just as it neared it, it hit into some sort of force field that caused it to explode.

"God, I love this place," Bucky muttered over the communications as well.

"Don't start celebrating yet, guys," Rhodes warned them, "We got more incoming outside the dome."

They turned their attention to the edges of Wakanda, seeing more of the same sort of ship setting down within the forests just outside of the dome that had been created with the force field. It was almost as though they were trying to surround the city, but we're making a half circle round the front of it. They crashed down, destroying trees and wildlife that lived there. While they couldn't actually affect the city, it didn't mean they couldn't destroy its surroundings.

"It's too late," Vision grunted as he tried to move to his feet, "We need to destroy the stone now."

"Vision, get your ass back on the table," Natasha ordered.

And T'Challa nodded, "We will hold them off."

"Wanda, as soon as that stone's out of his head, you blow it to hell," Steve turned the woman.

"I will," Wanda swore.

Steve looked over at Athena, "You ready for this?"

"I'm ready for this to end," she remarked and he nodded, understanding.

"Evacuate the city," T'Challa began giving orders as he strode out of the room, "Engage all defenses..." he paused and pointed back over at Steve, "And get this man a shield!"

Athena swallowed as she looked out of the window one more time, noting the ships that set down, how many there were, whether there were any others that had followed. She took a deep breath, wringing her hands together...the battle was about to begin.

A/N: Oooh, only two more chapters left! O.O But now they have a secret weapon and Thor is working his way back to them for another advantage :) Though, I wonder how the battle will go with Athena on the field...I wonder how Thor's entrance will go too ;)

Some notes on reviews...

I have a one-shot planned for this story, about Thor's time on Olympus, and I can say there will be a moment during it where he actually talks to someone about the Dark Days and gets a more in-depth look into what Athena and her family turned into during them :'( But it may take a little while to get up, I want to try and plan that for a midpoint between finishing this story and when the next Avengers movie comes out, so probably around early December ;)


	9. The Battle of Wakanda

The Battle of Wakanda

While most of the Avengers stood on a hovering craft that T'Challa and his Army were taking to reach the front lines against one side of the barrier around Wakanda, Athena was sitting against the side of it. She had her knees up, her arms somewhat resting on them, her hands clasped into fists as she rested her head against them. She was trying to take as deep of breaths as she could, trying to ignore the way her breath seemed to come faster than she would have liked. Even just sitting there was a trial for her. Her one leg was fidgeting with anxiety and restlessness. She could try to tell herself that it was just the anticipation of battle, the adrenaline starting to build up before the war began, but a voice in the back of her mind told her it could also be from a very different cause.

She had managed to stave it off up until now, but with the approaching battle it was just all flooding into her. Her head was aching, though there was a light headed quality to it, she felt like she couldn't get enough breath into her, her heart was racing, and it wasn't just her leg twitching as she could feel her hands shaking even as they were pressed against her forehead. It felt like her skin was tingling and she could feel a fine sheen of sweat breaking out on her brow. She squeezed her hands tighter, resisting the urge to pull them away from her forehead.

It was something she had often had to do on Olympus after the initial Dark Days had passed.

The temptation to reach for a weapon, to have a sword in her hand, to have HER sword in her hand, was almost too much. Her hands were itching to get a hold of a weapon, her body tensing, ready to throw itself into battle. But the battle hadn't begun yet and she was trying to resist that urge to use her own sword instead of the mock-up Hephaestus had made.

She couldn't risk of using it though, not just in the off chance that one of the blessings would activate in the heat of battle, but because she knew, if she touched that blade before the attack on Thanos, she would never let it go again.

Even now, even knowing that she would need to, HAVE to, destroy that sword when all this was said and done, was eating at her, the thought of watching it melt down, of all that it represented disappearing and being taken from her...

She tried to shake her head from her thoughts, not wanting to even allow or entertain them to go down that path. It truly was a dangerous path that she walked, and she knew she was creeping ever closer to the end of one of them. All the mental reassurances she gave herself that she would be fine when this was over, when Thanos was defeated, felt weak in comparison to what she knew was a very real possibility for her after.

"How are we looking, Bruce?"

Athena looked up when she heard Natasha call that into a communication device, it was both ringing in her ear where the device was connected, and also a few feet away where Natasha was standing.

"Yeah, I think I'm getting the hang of it," Banner called back, and Athena could see, even from where she was sitting, a large, thick, metal suit of armor that looked like a wider version of Iron Man, running after the hovering crafts, Banner within it ready to fight, "It's so amazing! It's like being the Hulk without actually..." she didn't even flinch when he seemed to trip on something and crashed to the ground, "I'm ok. I'm ok!"

Steve shook his head, catching sight of Athena in the corner of his eye with the action, and moving to go crouch beside her, a deep frown of concern on his face when she pulled her arms away as though to hug herself more, curling her legs closer, "You going to be alright?" now that he was closer, he could see she was shaking slightly.

Athena flinched minutely, her right hand had instinctively come to rest on the sheath of her sword, and she pulled it back with a snap, her hand curling into a fist once more. She took a deep breath and looked over at Steve, "I will be, when this is over, but there's something I might need help with."

"Anything," he said resolutely, "Anything you need, Athena, anything we can do to help..."

"I need to go back to Olympus," she told him, "I need my family."

Steve nodded along with her words, a look of understanding on his face.

But Athena knew that whatever he thought he understood the situation, would never even come close. He likely thought she needed her family because of Thor, because she had lost him. It was partly for that reason, being amongst family and having that support is what anyone would need when they were grieving. But it was so much more than that. She was going to have to use her sword in this battle, she knew what it would do to her to utilize it in such a way, and she would need her family to help her through the aftermath.

"I need to take my necklace," she glanced down at the string around her neck, the bottom of the necklace disappearing into her armor, "And take it to the waterfall," for she could hear the waters even from there in the stillness before battle, "And throw it into the mist that rises from it. It will open a doorway to my home."

"Alright," Steve spoke, though there was a faint note of confusion in his voice as to why she was describing the entire process to him.

"I need you and the others to make sure that I do this, that I return home," she spoke so seriously he frowned, "No matter what I say or try to do, I need your oath. If I try to resist, do what you must, knock me out, bind me, drag me there, I don't care, just make sure the necklace reaches the mist and I'm there. My family will take over from there."

And she was sure they would, they would take one look at her and know instantly what she had done, they would know of the oaths she had broken. And, as angry and disappointed as they may be in her, the ire she would feel from them, they would still take her back. They would never leave her on Earth, it would be far too dangerous to do such a thing.

Then, once she was with them once more, she would beg of her father to open Olympus to the Asgardian refugees. She would beg that they be allowed time to mourn and heal the same as her, for Earth could never be a potential home for them, not if she was to be their Queen.

She just had to make it through this final battle first.

"Athena..." Steve began, shaking his head, an unsure look on his face.

"I need your word," Athena cut in, looking him dead in the eye, "Promise me, Steve."

Steve searched her eyes for something, she wasn't sure what, but a moment later he slowly nodded, "I promise."

"Good," she tried to smile, though she was sure it looked as weak as she felt her will was, "Then all shall be well."

Steve opened his mouth to say something, however that was the exact moment that the hovercraft began to slow and come to a stop, the other soldiers of Wakanda hopping out, leaving them little option but to follow. Steve tried not to read too much into how Athena ignored the hand he held out to her to help, pushing herself to her feet instead.

They made their way along the grass to where the soldiers were already positioning themselves into blocks, following T'Challa already in his Black Panther armor sans helmet, as he led them to the front of the main block.

"Thank you for standing with us, M'Baku," the man spoke to another large soldier dressed in furs getting his own block ready for battle. The man said something in their language, shaking T'Challa's hand, before the king looked back at the dome and the ship's surrounding it, "Thanos will have nothing but dust and blood," he vowed.

They stood there, watching as the trees just in front of the ships began to move, the ground starting to shake with the sounds of an army approaching. Within moments the soldiers of Thanos appeared at the treeline, what look like mutated creatures with multiple arms and snapping fangs rushing straight for the barrier.

"Yibambe!" T'Challa began to chant with his soldiers as the Avengers grabbed their weapons, "Yibambe! Yibambe! Yibambe!"

Athena pulled her usual sword out of her shield, moving to strap it to her left hand, gripping the blade tightly in her right, as she stared at Thanos's soldiers who had now reached the barrier and were slamming themselves against it, trying to claw their way in.

"What the hell?" the Winter Soldier murmured from a few feet away, of the same mindset as everyone else that it was a horrific sight to witness.

The creatures were throwing themselves at the dome, trying to push their way in, but every limb and body part that passed through the dome ended up being cut off. Some of the creatures even managed to get half their body wedged through before it was dismembered. But it didn't deter the others, they just kept at it.

"They're killing themselves," Okoye breathed in shock.

The front line of the blocks of soldiers quickly raised their shields when they noticed a small handful of the creatures had actually managed to get past the barrier and were heading for them, firing weapons at a few that drew near.

The Falcon flew himself just over them, launching what appeared to be heat-seeking projectiles at the stragglers, "See the teeth on those things?!" his voice called through the communicators.

"Alright, back up, Sam," War Machine responded, as he too flew along the edge of the dome, dropping more bombs on the creatures that were still partially getting through, "You'll get your wings singed."

Athena's eyes narrowed as she noticed some of the creatures on either end of the swarm had begun to make their way further from the main pile, "They're spreading out!" she called over to the others in warning.

"IF these things circle the perimeter and get in behind us," Banner voiced, "There's nothing between them and Vision."

"Then we better keep them in front of us," Captain America reasoned.

"How do we do that?" Okoye scoffed.

Black Panther was silent a moment, knowing the answer but hesitating to give it, knowing what it would mean for the safety of his people and country. But there was no other way to herd the creatures back to the center, "We open the barrier," he stated, before reaching up to tap a private communicator to the palace, "On my signal, open Northwest Section 17."

"Requesting confirmation, my King," Athena could hear a voice respond, "You said _open_ the barrier?"

"On my signal."

A silence fell along the Avengers as they all were aware of what this would mean for Wakanda.

"This will be the end of Wakanda," the large, fur-clad soldier spoke.

But Okoye gave a worthy response, "Then it will be the noblest ending in history."

Captain America lifted his arm, triggering the shields he had been given which had spikes on the ends of them, as the rest of the Avengers got into a fighting stance.

The Black Panther stepped forward before the armies, crossing his arms before his chest, "Wakanda forever!" he cried out.

"Wakanda forever!" was the answering shout from his people before they all took off running for the dome.

"NOW!" the Black Panther shouted into his communicator, and a small portion of the dome began to open, allowing the creatures to spill in.

Athena, Captain America, and Black Panther quickly moved themselves ahead of the running army, the quickest among them. Athena, with her god-like qualities, was able to pull ahead of even them, the three of them launching themselves at the creatures. She landed the first blow, swiftly cutting off the head of one with a swipe of her sword.

From that point on it was an all-out brawl between the Avengers and the Wakandan soldiers and the creatures of Thanos. Athena, Captain America, and the Black Panther seemed to remain relatively close to one another, each of them in sight of the others out of the corner of her eye. But she quickly lost sight of all the rest, she couldn't focus on them even if she wanted to. She was surrounded by the creatures and they had to be her main priority. She swiped and slashed and ducked and skid and stabbed, the creatures no match for her prowess in battle.

She lost count of just how many creatures she had managed fell, feeling like the battle had only lasted mere moments before she heard the Black Panther's voice in her communicator, calling to his sister, "How much longer, Shuri?"

"We've barely begun, brother," was the response.

"You might want to pick up the pace!"

Athena shook her head at that, focusing back on the battle once more.

~8~

Thor had just managed to get himself onto the edge of the shutter that connected to the Neutron Star that was the heart of Nidavellir. Standing there, he was facing and feeling exactly the might of the star blazing before him. The heat alone was almost unbearable and it was just resting there, not directed at him. He looked at either side of him, where the edges of the shutter were locked in place, knowing that once he pulled on them, once he released the power of the star, it would pass straight through him to get to the forge.

When he had been on Olympus with Athena, he had accidentally touched one of the horses that once drew the Chariot of the Sun. He had burned himself quite badly on it and that only been a minor tap and felt just about as hot as what he was feeling now, facing the star. He couldn't imagine what it would be like when he actually opened the shutters and was right in the middle of its ray.

"Allfathers, give me strength," he murmured to himself, offering a small prayer to Athena as well. He hoped she would forgive him for this. If he died trying to make this weapon and did not return to her, he hoped she would forgive him for not having told her he lived a while longer.

"You understand, boy?" Eitri called down to him from the edge of the rings, "You're about to take the full force of a star. It'll kill you."

"And if I die..." Thor called back.

"Yes," Eitri spoke, a bit confused, "That's what, killing you means..."

"I meant," Thor shook his head, "If I die, make sure Athena gets Storm Breaker. I know she will be able to wield it as I could, for she was meant to hold Storm Bringer," he swallowed hard, as he realized just how much danger he might actually be in of never being returned to Athena, of forever being parted from her by Death, "If I am no longer able to protect her in body, give her my weapon so I may forever protect her in spirit."

"I will," Eitri swore.

Thor took a deep breath to prepare himself, before reaching out and grabbing either side of the shutter, pulling with all his might and closing his eyes as the star began to blaze before him. Not even a moment later he felt the burning heat of the star firing towards the forge. He couldn't stop himself from screaming at the agony of it.

"Hold it, hold it, Thor!" he could vaguely hear Eitri shouting back at him, and so he held on, thinking of everything he was doing this for, everyone he was going to save by having a weapon to stop Thanos. He thought of Athena and how this would allow him to get back to her and protect her, always.

He tried to keep his grip on the shutter, he tried to keep himself conscious, knowing that the second he let himself fall to the darkness that was closing in on him, the forge would go out once more. But, in the end, the force of the star was too much for him, and he felt his world going black as he fell off of the side of the shutter, back towards the forge.

He could vaguely see the world around him during the descent, the edge of the ring was speeding up as he drew nearer. In his ear he could hear Rocket shouting, and he was only slightly aware of the pod racing towards him, trying to catch him before he hit the forge. But there was a beam in the way that he knocked into on his way down, sending him falling straight onto the floor of the forge's ring, only a few feet away from Groot, who finally looked up from the game he was playing.

"Thor?" he could hear Rocket shouting, the creature's voice getting nearer, "Say something, come on. Thor, you ok?" there was a sound of something shattering on the floor, "I think he's dying."

"He needs the axe!" Eitri called, a thumping telling Thor, with his last moments of consciousness, that he was looking for something, "Where's the handle? Tree! Help me find the handle."

Thor's head lulled to the side, his eyes blearily blinking open to see Groot approaching the cracked open mold of the axe. The tree creature held out a hand, extending his fingers into binding around the axe's sides, yanking it together and sealing it, before chopping off his own arm to act as a handle.

With the last bit of strength he had, Thor opened his hand, trying to call the axe to him...

~8~

The Battle of Wakanda was still raging, every available Avenger besides Wanda fighting as hard as they could. Athena was trying to fight against the sensation, the narrowing of her world, the tunnel vision that seemed to be affecting her lately whenever she was in battle. She wanted to, she _needed_ to, keep track of the other Avengers, they were her _friends_ , she needed to make sure they were ok. But she struggled for a great deal in doing so, the enemies surrounding her making it difficult to do.

Very vaguely she noted that Banner, the Winter Soldier, Captain America, and the Black Panther, were all overwhelmed, being swarmed by the creatures. She hadn't realized until it was too late though, and she had her own enemies to deal with, she could not go assist them.

But maybe...

She sliced through one of the creatures near her, panting heavily, and looked down at her left hip where her old sword was still laying in its sheath. Her right hand was trembling with the desire to grab her old sword out and use that instead, for surely it would change the tide of this battle. Just as her resistance broke and her hand settled on the hilt of her old blade, a blast of lightning shot down from the sky into the middle of the battlefield.

And from within that blast an axe was thrown out, spinning around in a giant circle, knocking out the creatures that had overwhelmed the other Avengers, crackling with lightning itself.

She immediately took off running towards it...

"Oh, you guys are so screwed now!" Banner was laughing into the communicators, when the lightning cleared to reveal Thor a raccoon with a gun, and a tree creature standing within.

"Bring me Thanos!" Thor demanded as he stormed onto the field, charging forward with the raccoon and tree.

Thor slammed his axe against one of the nearest creatures, sending it flying away. He jumped into the air and brought the axe down once more, sending a shockwave of creatures away from him with the force of his blow.

"New haircut?" he heard someone call, and looked over to see Captain America, a little more battle-worn than he recalled and with much longer hair, standing there and nodding his head at him.

"I notice you've copied my beard," Thor shot back, gesturing to his face where he was sporting a beard as well. He stepped back suddenly to the side when he saw Groot impale three of the creatures on a single branch of his arm, "Oh, by the way, this is a friend of mine. A tree."

"I am Groot!" the tree called over.

Steve panted a moment from the battle, but moved to place a hand to his chest in return, "I am Steve Rogers..." he paused when something just past Thor's shoulder caught his eye and he smirked, "And you," he nodded at Thor, "Are in deep in trouble."

Thor frowned at that, but turned to look over his shoulder, almost jerking to the side when a sword went flying past his head. He spun back to see that it had embedded itself in a creature that had just tried to jump him from behind. He looked forward once more, just in time to catch Athena as the goddess hurled herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck so tightly he was sure he wouldn't be able to breathe, but there would be no complaints from him, not when he wound his arms around her waist so tightly he was sure he bruised her.

He could see Captain America and some fellow dressed in a black cat suit take up point on either side of them, giving them a moment even in the heat of battle for their reunion. Clearly both men realized how important this moment was for them, though he assumed it was even more important for Athena. She had a thought him dead, while he still had hope that she lived. He would not fault her for this distraction on the battlefield, though he knew she would likely beat herself up over it later. Had the roles been reversed he would have done the same and let nothing stop him from getting back to her and embracing her once more, a reassurance that she was alive and with him again.

"You're alive," he heard her breathe into his neck as she buried her face into it, there was no way he could miss the crack in her voice that near to him.

He closed his eyes for just a moment and buried his nose into her hair, squeezing her tighter, "I am never leaving you again," he swore to all the gods he knew of.

He gave himself one more moment of weakness with her, one more moment of distraction, when he pulled away to kiss her quickly and rest his forehead to hers, his hands cupping her face, his thumbs brushing away the tears that were falling from her eyes. He could hear the sounds of the battle raging around them, and he knew they didn't have much more time left before they would be needed, but he would savor every moment he could.

Athena, however, always having a mindset for battle, forced herself to pull away and look up at him, her eyes shining, "You went to Nidavellir," she shook her head, trying to focus once more.

"I needed something that could destroy Thanos," he told her quickly, "It was the only way I could allow myself to come back to you with such a delay."

She nodded, "We both thought to find a weapon strong enough to defeat him, then."

He frowned at that, his face scrunched in confusion, as far as he knew of Earth there was no such weapon to be found there, "What weapon..."

But before the question could pass his lips, there was a loud rumbling noise as the ground began shaking. Their reunion was cut short at that moment as they looked over to see the trees just outside of the dome falling to the ground before the dirt just on the inside of the dome moved like a wave, and a large object, ten mechanical wheels surrounded by spikes, dug its way up from under the barrier.

"Fall back!" the Black Panter ordered as it separated into two halves, "Fall back now!"

"After we win?" Thor looked to Athena.

She nodded, "After we win," she agreed, and the two of them took off back into battle to help, Athena grabbing her sword out of the fallen creature as she went.

"Focus all fire on the left flank, Sam," Athena could hear War Machine order, and knew that the one set of wheels was being dealt with by the two fliers among them.

"I'm doing it," Falcon called.

She turned in her focus to move for the second set of wheels that was racing straight for Okoye and the Black Widow. But just as she reached it, it was surrounded by a red light, lifted into the air, and thrown back at a swarm of the creatures. She spun to see Wanda standing in front of the two women.

"Why was she up there all this time?" Okoye huffed.

But Athena's initial reaction was not one of relief, but of dread as she turned and looked straight towards the window where the stone was being extracted from Vision, only to see the glass shatter as the robot himself dove out of it, a swarm of creatures behind him.

"Guys, we got a Vision situation here!" Falcon reported at the same time that Athena called out, "Vision's been compromised!"

"Somebody get to Vision!" Captain America ordered.

"I got him," Banner responded, rushing off.

"And me," Athena added, not wanting Banner to get overwhelmed again as he had on the field of battle.

She ran straight for the wooded area of Wakanda, where she had seen Vision fall, coming up on him right as a number of creatures jumped at Banner, taking the suit out and causing it to roll down a small hill.

"Guys, Vision needs back-up, now!" Banner shouted into the communicator.

"I'm here," Athena reported, launching herself at the creatures.

She let out a fearsome cry as she slashed and hacked her way through the creatures with reckless abandon. They were trying to claw their way towards Vision's forehead but she had learned very quickly on the main field exactly how these creatures fought. It was only a matter of moments before she had taken out every last one of them that had followed him through the window. She was sure more were about to follow, she would need to get Vision up, on his feet, and away from that area as quickly as possible.

But as she turned to face him, he was looking at her in alarm, "Athena...your eyes..."

Athena look down at her reflection in her sword, her jaw clenching when she saw what he had. She opened her mouth to explain when she heard the snarling of the creatures sounding once more and getting closer. She moved to position herself in front of Vision, her back to him, her shield up and sword ready, "Go!" she ordered, "Get out of here, now!"

She quickly resumed the fight, attacking the creatures as they hurled themselves at her and Vision, doing her best to block them from getting to him. She could hear Vision struggling behind her, could see him out of the corner of her eye as he tried to help, but it appeared that the creatures knew exactly where Vision was now and were redirecting from the main battle to join them in the woods.

But they weren't the only ones who knew where Vision was, for not even a moment later Captain America dove out of the bushes, and into the main fray.

"Get outta here!" even he ordered Vision to go for it was clear the robot was reluctant to leave them to fight alone, "Go!" he turned back to the battle, he and Athena taking out as many creatures as they could. He spun around when he heard a snarl, to see one of the creatures launching itself at him from behind, when it was stabbed through the middle by Vision himself, "I thought I told you to go!"

"We don't trade lives, Captain," Vision shook his head.

"I don't believe there's much trade left," Athena remarked, panting as she looked out into the main battle where it appeared that their side was winning, more humans left standing than creature. Further out they could see Thor, destroying the different ships that the armies had come in so they could not retreat.

As though a testament to the changing tide of the battle, Wanda landed only a few feet away, rushing to Vision's side as he knelt on the ground.

"Are you ok?" she quickly checked him over as Captain America and Athena approached. He had only just started to nod in answer, when he flinched and groaned, the stone in his forehead flashing, "What? What is it?"

Vision tensed as he looked up at Athena and Captain America, knowing exactly what the stone was trying to tell him, "He's here."

Athena and Captain America exchanged looks at that, tensing with understanding...

Thanos had arrived.

A/N: Ooh, omg, one chapter left! It's all coming down to this O.O But yay mini-reunion! :D I wanted it to be sweet, but also realistic too. As much as I would have loved a prolonged reunion, they're literally in the middle of a battle that the Avengers had gotten overwhelmed during at times, it really couldn't be THAT long as much as it broke my heart :( So I tried to get the really important moments (and a kiss!) snuck in there :) And the moment with Steve again, Athena really is going to need her family after all of this, I think :(

But oh jeez, Thanos is here...what's gonna happen next? O.O

Some notes on reviews...

I'm glad Athena's struggle comes across :) There's a lot, I think, that is sort of 'worse' or that she's handling in not a great way because she's pushing it off till the battle is finished, and it really isn't good for her to do that way :( She knows things are wrong and that she's struggling, but she's also sort of locked on to avenging Thor and stopping Thanos that it's sort of putting her priorities in a not great order :( It's definitely going to have some consequences :(


	10. A Staggering Loss

A Staggering Loss

Athena and Captain America looked up as the world around them fell silent and eerily still, as always seemed to happen in nature when a danger was near. Captain America quickly opened the communication device between him and the rest of the team, "Everyone on my position. We have incoming."

"What the hell?" Athena could hear Natasha speak through the communicators as the Avengers rushed to try and get to their point.

Athena tightened her grip on her sword and shield, staring as a ripple in the air appeared few feet in front of them, swirling purple and black in nature. It began to expand as though a cloud were forming and she knew it would be mere moments before Thanos truly arrived on Earth.

"We need Thor," Captain America spoke quietly to Athena, turning to her and giving her a pointed look.

Thor had arrived to the battle too late to be given a communicator of his own. He was currently preoccupied with destroying the different ships that Thanos's army had taken. He would be too far away to notice the other Avengers leaving the field of battle to gather in the woods. And while Athena understood having every conceivable advantage when it came to a battle, she could not see how her departing in order to get to Thor would be a wise strategy.

"I have my blade," Athena reminded him, gesturing to the sheath on her hip where her old blade was resting, locked away so she would not be tempted to use it during the battle. It was with that thought that she felt a coldness pass through her, to her own ears she had sounded too eager to remain there and use the blade.

"And Thor has that axe," Captain America countered, "If Thanos is as tough as you say, we're going to need all of you. You and Thor are our best bet to finishing this guy. We can hold him off long enough for you to get Thor, you're the fastest among us," he had seen that proven when Athena bolted past even him and the Black Panther earlier, "Go."

There were many things Athena could do in that moment, argue, pull rank, disregard the order. She was the _Goddess_ of _Battle_ , that would always and forever outrank a minor human captain. She could have turned on her communicator, called out to whoever was farthest away to try and get Thor's attention to bring him there so she could remain beside the rest of the Avengers as they faced Thanos. She could have even run towards the steadily growing portal, bringing up her sword ready to stab Thanos straight through the heart, before he could even realize what was happening.

Instead, she gave Captain America a firm nod and turned to take off out of the forest, heading towards the field of battle once more.

She couldn't deny that there was something inside of her that hesitated at the thought of having to pull out her sword and use it against Thanos even while a larger part of her was eager to do just that. Having it in her hand once more had nearly overwhelmed her in Rome, using it a second time, using it for a purpose, actually taking it _to battle_ with her with the intent to use it to finish off an enemy, would do her no favors.

And she wouldn't deny...she was _scared_.

She wanted Thor beside her when she went after Thanos. She _needed_ him with her, she needed to see him after she used her sword to know that he was really there, to know he had survived Thanos's first attack, that he was alive. A brief moment in the heat of battle was not enough to make up for everything that she had felt in the last few hours since Thanos attacked the sanctuary ship. In such a short time she had had her heart ripped out of her and crushed into pieces, and it had only _just_ begun to be pieced back together and beat once more. But it needed more time to heal, and the more fragile her heart was more fragile _she_ was. It wasn't in terms of a female weakness, to need a man beside her. She needed Thor there with her for his brute strength and skill in battle, for when it was all over. She didn't know what would happen after, having him with her was for peace of mind.

She would only get one chance to use her sword against Thanos with the Infinity Stones he possessed in play. The blessings she had gathered were so old, her family had been so removed from earth for so long that it would have worn away at some point. She had been lucky that the blessings were still there in some form. But she was entirely certain her sword could only defend one attack from Thanos using the stones. Once that attack was finished, her sword would be merely a sword again. And incredibly powerful, Thanos-killing type of weapon for sure. But susceptible to the Infinity Stones again. If she failed, she needed to know there was someone else there that could go after Thanos while she at least distracted him.

Another part of her was brave enough, at least, to admit that, if there was any other way to stop Thanos _besides_ using her blessed sword she would _always_ choose that option first. Thor's axe was enough to do extensive damage to Thanos's army and the ships they landed in. She could practically feel the power radiating off of it. The fact that Eitri himself had made it, for she recalled no other Dwarf with such skill, that it was a weapon clearly designed for the king of Asgard, his most powerful creation yet, gave her all the hope she needed that it could be used to take down Thanos instead. It tore her apart inside just to go get the sword, to know _why_ she had left it there, the shame and the disgrace that came with it. She tried to convince herself that if she could use it to take down a threat like Thanos, then it was at least for something good. But no amount of saying it could actually make her believe it.

She wouldn't even care that she had gotten the sword for nothing if Thor was able to take down Thanos with his axe. The amount of dread she felt at even the thought of having to use her sword once more...

She swallowed hard and shook her head, focusing on her mission, she needed to find Thor and _fast_.

Her communicator was still active and she could hear the conversation that the other Avengers were having in her ear, "That's him..." Banner spoke.

She pushed herself harder, running as fast as she could as she spotted Thor, the man was already flying back towards the field of battle, the ships that the army had landed in all destroyed.

"Thor!" she shouted, and he seemed to hear her as he landed before her with a gentleness and ease she hadn't been expecting. When he had first arrived on the battlefield, it was with an explosion of the Bifrost and every move he had made after that was one of strength and power, taking down his enemies. And while she knew she was far from an enemy to him, it was still something she had braced herself for, a landing that would have sent her stumbling back from the energy of it.

"Where are the others?"

"The army when after Vision," she told him, "Captain America and I held them off, but..." she trailed off for just a moment, hearing Captain America's voice in her ear just at that moment, 'Eyes up. Stay sharp.'

"Athena?" Thor frowned, seeing her get distracted.

She looked back up at him, serious and tense, "Thanos is here," she continued, "The Avengers are about to attack him, they need our help."

She could hear it in the earpiece, the sound of Captain America's new shield activating. There was only one reason he would give the order to stay sharp and keep focused, the battle against Thanos was about to begin.

Thor nodded, understanding exactly how serious that was as he strode forward, winding his arm around her, before thrusting the axe into the air, lifting them off of the ground in a high jump, meant to take them closer to the others. She had missed this, she allowed herself just the briefest of moments to think, about how it felt to have Thor's arm around her once more, to feel him against her. zshe tightened her hold on him, just wanting to be a little bit closer, constantly reminding herself that this was _real_ , that he was there, he was alive and returned to her.

But then a noise sounded in her ear, and she was thrown back into the reality of the situation, reminded of the battle that was happening just below them. From how high up she and Thor were at that moment, she could just barely see through the trees to where the Avengers were fighting Thanos.

There was a faint glimmer of blue that had just faded, and within that haze she could see Banner was trapped now. The thick battle armor he had been wearing was now embedded in a large stone behind Thanos. It didn't take much to guess that he had run towards the enemy, who had then used the Space Stone to phase the armor into the rocks. From what she could tell, Banner hadn't even been able to land of blow on Thanos, the purple monstrosity was still stalking towards where Wanda and Vision were kneeling on the ground a few feet away.

"We need to stop him getting to Vision!" Athena shouted over the wind whipping past them from how fast they were traveling.

Thor nodded and urged the axe to make them go faster.

She could see Captain America taking his own shot at Thanos, running straight at the man, but then the purple-pink stone began to glow. Thanos had activated the Power Stone to send the Captain flying to the side with a mere wave of his hand, winding the fallen Avenger.

"I have an idea," Thor spoke to her loudly in her ear, "Trust me?"

"Always," she said without hesitation.

She could see the Black Panther leaping into the air for Thanos as Thor began to take them a lower, but Thanos reached out and grabbed the Black Panther by the neck, stopping his attack. Just as she and Thor landed on the ground she could see the Power Stone flash as Thanos threw a punch right at the Black Panther's face, knocking him off to the side.

"I need to gain height," Thor told Athena quickly, shouting a "Distract him!" to her before he took off into the air once more.

Instantly, she knew exactly what attack he was going to try to make, to get as high up so he would have enough momentum when he came back down to use his axe against Thanos. It explained why he had set her down, it would be harder to attack with two people than just himself.

She nodded firmly and begin to run back towards the Avengers, seeing Falcon firing guns at Thanos as he flew towards the purple monster, but with a flash of the Space Stone it appeared as though all of the weapons phased right through his hands, causing him to drop them, and his wings short-circuited, forcing him to fall right out of the sky in a heap.

The nearer she got, the more she could hear of what was being said between Wanda and Vision, the robot clearly trying to get Wanda to agree to destroy the Mind Stone while it was still embedded in his skull, but she paid them little mind, focusing on the main enemy.

The Avengers were failing, with War Machine attacking next, only for Thanos to use the Space Stone to crush the sides of his metal armor, throwing him off to the side. She was nearly there, she could see the Winter Soldier firing his own gun at Thanos but, much like with Captain America, he used the Power Stone to cast the man aside. She grunted as she managed to put her sword away into a strap on her back, using her shield as she ran closer. Black Widow and Okoye were closing in on Thanos, the Wakandan warrior hurling a spear at him. Again, with the use of the Power Stone, Thanos froze the spear in midair, tossing it and her to the side with its power. Black Widow didn't even manage to get an attack in as the ground began to shift around her, rising up as spikes shot out from the earth, trapping her underneath them.

Athena nearly stumbled herself as the ground around her shook from the move, but a creature that looked like a tree stepped up, using its own roots to try and trap Thanos within them. But the man was too powerful even without the stones and brushed them aside. A flash of red caught her eye and she turned her head to see Wanda had finally decided to destroy the stone, using both of her hands to try and get it done faster as the Avengers were falling around them.

She was merely feet away when Captain America stepped up to stop Thanos once more, the only one left in the path between him and Wanda. She watched as he skid under an attack and jumped to his feet before Thanos. He managed to get a swift punch to Thanos's head and then grabbed the gauntlet as Thanos moved to grab at him. She could see the strain on his face the nearer she got. Just as Thanos made a move to punch Captain America, Athena slammed into him, managing to use his distraction of Captain America's attack to slam the titan back a few more feet. Instead of using the Power Stone to throw her to the side like he had with the others, he used it to levitate a boulder and send it flying at her. But she used her shield to knock it to the side.

She use the momentum of her swing to tilt her head just enough to peek into the air, she could see Thor already in his descent, coming back Earth, ready for Thanos. He just needed a few more seconds. She felt herself shoved to the side as Thanos activated the Power Stone to cast her off. But she caught herself mid-fling and landed on one knee and the other foot, but to the side of Thanos as he continued his approach to Wanda.

"You took the man I love!" she shouted, seeing the titan stop at her words, "I won't stop till I have taken _everything_ you love," she continued, watching his body language closely, almost able to feel the rage that filled him at the words, "Starting with your _precious children_."

It was all too clear to her in that roar of pain and anguish Thanos let out as he turned to face her that Proxima Midnight _had_ in fact given him the warning she had ordered the woman to do. He began to use the Power Stone recklessly, throwing more rocks at her, using another stone to shake the ground like he had with the Black Widow, the roots and earth itself reaching up to grab her, holding her down.

"YOU killed my children," he growled as he stalked towards her, away from Wanda.

Athena smirked darkly at him, "And I took _enormous_ pleasure in it," she spat at him.

Thanos raised the Infinity Gauntlet in a fist, all of the stones glowing with the force of his rage as he moved to punch her in the face...

When an enormous explosion knocked him a few feet back, his concentration broken as the mound of rock and root fell away from Athena, dropping her to the ground, her shield up immediately to block the energy from Wanda and Vision as it expanded.

And in that moment, Athena knew Wanda had succeeded in destroying the Mind Stone.

Thanos seemed even more enraged by that fact, that the stone he had sent his Children to Earth to apprehend had been destroyed. Athena couldn't stop her eyes from flipping back and forth between Thanos and the sky...when she saw the green Time Stone beginning to glow on his gauntlet. It didn't take goddess of wisdom to know what he was planning to do.

He intended to turn back time to before the stone had been destroyed...but Athena smiled, because he would never succeed.

Thor threw himself out of air at just that moment with a roaring battle cry that drew Thanos's attention. He fired the energy of the Infinity Stones at Thor as the man approached with his axe, but Thor was able to hurl it through the blast, the axe more powerful than the five stones, until it embedded itself in Thanos's chest. He landed on the ground, looking over at Athena, and she nodded that she was alright. She slowly reached to her side to pull out her old sword, keeping the move hidden behind her shield so as not to give away the advantage.

Thor's attention returned to Thanos who had fallen to his knees, "I told you..." Thor warned as he reached out to grab the other end of the axe and push it more into Thanos's chest, unintentionally mimicking exactly what Athena had done to Proxima Midnight, "You'd die for that."

Thanos wheezed out something, trying to speak, "You..." he managed murmur weakly, "You should...you should have aimed...for the head."

Thor's eyes widened as he saw the green Time Stone begin to flash again, but he was quickly distracted by Athena who let out a war cry of her own. He looked up to see she had a sword held high above her head. Thanos turned his attention to Athena too, activating all the stones in a last ditch effort to save himself, but it was as though the beam divided as it reached Athena, the sword in her hand glowing in a mix of red, blue, purple, orange, and green, until she had pushed past the attack and brought it down with a fierce swing...slicing right through Thanos's arm just after the gauntlet ended, severing it.

Athena panted as she fell to the ground, rolling quickly away, the gauntlet and half of Thanos's arm clutched desperately in her grasp to keep it away from the titan. She looked up to see Thor making quick work of pulling his axe out of Thanos and using it to do just as the man had remarked, slicing his head off. He looked to her, his eyes searching for any injury, and she nodded that she was fine, jerking her head to the side towards the others. He gave her one in return and hurried off to help the other Avengers where they'd fallen, checking on them as well. She quickly forced herself to shove her sword back into its sheath, feeling a weight lift from her with the move. She had survived the many battles she'd faced, in one piece, and still herself. All her fears for after the battle started to fade with that knowledge, a relief filling her instead. She closed her eyes tightly, her hands trembling despite the warmth that was radiating from the gauntlet, they had done it, they had won.

"...Vis?"

Her head snapped up to the side, seeing Wanda looking around, frantic, the girl's eyes wide and full of tears that were streaming down her face. She didn't utter another word as she seemed to realize why Vision was nowhere to be seen. The girl had destroyed the stone…but the blast had been too much and taken Vision with it.

Athena watched, silent, as Wanda sank to her knees, sobbing, utterly devastated to have lost the man she loved. This girl, who had lost her parents, her home, her brother, her freedom, and now her love. She watched as Wanda's soul was bared for all to see, the heartbreak written in every movement, the anguish of her loss raw.

She could understand exactly how Wanda was feeling. She had landed on this planet fully believing that the man who held her heart was gone, ripped away from her by Thanos. She had blamed herself, that if she had just fought harder, been better, moved faster, she could have stayed with Thor, she could have made a difference. She had felt that loss clawing at her from the inside, as though someone had their hand around her heart and was squeezing it without end. The battle was over now, the fighting should be finished, they had done this to save the universe from Thanos. But what's more SHE had done this to keep anyone else from _ever_ feeling what she had felt when she was pulled away from the sanctuary ship.

She had fought in this battle not just to avenge Thor, but to protect anyone else from having their heart ripped out, from experiencing the loss of the person they loved with all their being. Everyone else was safe, but not Wanda. Exactly what she had been fighting against had happened, and she blamed herself again. If she had just gotten to Thor sooner, if they had made it back faster, if she had been quicker and braver to act with her own blade, maybe Vision would still be there. And now Wanda was feeling that same heartbreak ten times over to be the one who had taken Vision from this Earth.

It wasn't fair...

She felt a pulse beneath her hands and looked down at the gauntlet she still held, her gaze drawn to the glowing green stone…the Time Stone. _Time_ …

Her gaze flickered back to Wanda and back to the stone…and then drifted to her left hand, her graying skin visible through her wrappings. It was dangerous to even _think_ such a thing. She closed her eyes tightly, hearing Wanda let out a sob, her thoughts turning to how selfish SHE was being. She had _a chance_ , she had _the ability_ to, and she was sitting there actually _debating_ while another person's heart was breaking the same way her own had.

She looked up and over at Thor, the man SHE loved, watching him for just a moment as he hurried to help Captain America to his feet, the Winter Soldier rushing over to help as the Captain stumbled. Everyone here had their love, their friends safe, but Wanda…they had saved every life on Earth with their actions, but lost the one that meant the most to Wanda.

"Vis…"

Athena swallowed hard, looking back at Thor one final time, feeling tears filling her eyes as she watched him, watched the others getting up. Her friends, her allies, the man she loved…the people she had fought beside, the people she trusted, and the people she had lied to ever since she landed on Earth with Banner. She had lied to them even before the ship had been attacked, had lied to Thor. She had kept something from all of them, she could only hope they would forgive her.

She took a deep, shuddering breath, her hands curling into fists beside the gauntlet. Before she reached up, quickly, and grabbed her necklace as it dangled around her neck, yanking it off and dropping it to the ground. She shifted the gauntlet in her hand, not even flinching when Thanos's arm slid out of the metal casing and dropped to the ground. She looked back at Wanda once more, before she grabbed the gauntlet…

And put it on.

Athena screamed as the power coursed through her, worse than when she had grabbed her sword after it had been imbued with the blessings of her family, drawing the attention of the others, of Wanda, of Thor. She fell forward a moment later, the red stone, the Reality Stone, glowing as the gauntlet shrunk to fit her arm, the rest of the stones beginning to crackle with energy as her hands curled into fists from the pain.

"Athena?"

She was sure someone had said her name, but her ears were ringing, her lungs feeling as though they couldn't get enough air, her world was spinning, her head throbbing, she couldn't _focus_...but she needed to, there was _something_...something she had to do...

"What have you done!?"

She didn't know who was speaking, the world was blurry around her, but there was an… _energy_ …rushing through her, a _power_ unlike anything she had ever felt before…

"Athena!"

Thor…that was _his_ voice just then, she knew it, could feel it breaking through the overwhelming sensations. It was just enough to put her world in focus once more.

Her eyes snapped open, she wasn't even sure when she had closed them, her mind rushing to remember, to remember what she was doing, _why_ she had done this. She looked down at her arm, then to her other hand…where the gray speckling was expanding, spreading across her skin, up her arm, moving fast.

She didn't have long.

She quickly lifted her left hand, the Time Stone glowing brightly, freezing time around her. She looked up to see the horror in the faces of the others, one or two of them already in the process of running at her. But now they were immobilized, _harmless_...she could pick them off one by one if she wanted to, but that wasn't what she wanted. She had to physically shake herself from those thoughts, pushing herself to her feet, her legs shaking, her world spinning, but her gaze focusing on Wanda. She staggered over, her body trembling now, a coldness settling into her bones, spreading along her like the gray patches she now glimpsed on her legs too.

"No," she murmured to herself, fighting a force she felt rising in her, " _No_!"

She fell to her knees only a few feet away from Wanda, screaming again and clutching at her left arm. She opened her eyes from the power of her scream and fell forward, trembling, shaking her head as she saw her reflection in the gauntlet…her eyes weren't grey any longer.

She was running out of time.

She held up her hand, forcing herself back onto her knees, gripping her wrist with her right hand, and focusing, she _had_ to do this, she had to or it was for _nothing_. She watched as the green stone began to glow, the air before her open palm rippling, particles and small bits of red rushing backwards, reforming…

Until Vision was kneeling before her.

The man looked down at himself, at his hands, startled to be alive once more, and his gaze jumped up to Wanda, seeing her frozen. He looked to the side, right at Athena, his eyes widening at the sight of her.

Athena winced, struggling with the force trying to claw its way out from inside her, and opened her palm more, freezing Vision in place. She held her breath as she reached out with a trembling hand, her fingertips touching Vision's forehead, the orange Soul Stone in the gauntlet starting to glow, encasing Vision. Her fingers twitched, the purple-pink Power Stone illuminating as she carefully touched the yellow Mind Stone, plucking it as gently as she could manage from Vision's forehead, watching, focusing with the last of her strength, the last of her focus, as the orange glow filled into the center of the void the yellow gem had left behind. She needed to do it, she needed to give them every advantage...

She stepped back, stumbling to her feet, the yellow gem in her hand and looked down at the gauntlet, closing her hand into a crushing fist around it, her arm shaking with the resistance of it...but it wasn't enough, SHE wasn't enough to stop it...it was too late...

~8~

Wanda gasped as time resumed, seeing Vision kneeling before her, the robot's hand flying to his forehead, stunned to find the gem gone but himself still there, before Wanda was crashing into his arms.

"Athena…" Thor called out, seeing her standing there, looking down at the gauntlet, the now _completed_ gauntlet, ripples of power running up her arm.

But…it _wasn't_ Athena any longer, he knew that. Her skin was a faint gray color, her hair had returned to its original brown though it seemed darker than he could remember it being, the aura radiating off of her cold and deadly and, when she looked up at him, he could see her eyes blazing red.

...exactly like a mural he had seen on Olympus meant to remind Athena and her family of themselves during Dark Days they fought their way out of.

"No…"

Athena just smirked in a way so unlike herself and lifted her gauntleted hand to wave her fingers at them in a taunting manner, just as the blue Space Stone flashed and a portal appeared behind her.

"Athena!" Thor cried, rushing towards her, his shock worn off, but he was too late, she was gone, stepping through the portal and closing it after her.

"What the hell just happened?!" the Winter Soldier called out, "Did she just…"

"She took the gauntlet," Bruce stated, dropping out of the stone he'd been shoved into, none of his scanners picking her up.

Thor shook his head, turning to face them, his posture detailing just how terrible a thing this was, his shoulders hunched, his head bowed, his face grim.

He had failed.

He had failed to keep the promise he made to Ares. The last time he and Athena had gone to Olympus, his only time visiting the place, he had met a number of her family. He had met her younger brother Ares, the God of War. Many would think him hot-tempered, brutal, aggressive, and they would be right. However, over the years since Athena and her family had left Earth, it had transformed into a protectiveness over his family. Ares feared for Athena most of all, being so distant from their family now, in a different world, a separate realm, where they could not easily travel. He had been tested by the God of War, as one would expect family to do with a new suitor. He had been found 'acceptable,' which he had take as approval. And he had had more conversations with Ares than he had any other member of Athena's family. One of those talks had stayed with him.

Ares had asked him only one thing, to protect Athena, to make sure she would be alright, and look out for her when her family, when _he_ , couldn't. He had given the man his word, he had sworn nothing would _ever_ cause harm to Athena. He would never let it. She would always be safe with him.

 _He had failed_.

He swallowed hard, "She has been consumed by the darkness."

Captain America seemed to be the only one to understand what that meant as he straightened. Anyone with eyes could tell something was wrong with Athena, her skin, her eyes, the way she'd looked at them, like they were prey to be toyed with...it wasn't her, it _couldn't_ be. The gauntlet had corrupted her, that much was clear, and with that came a dreaded realization.

She was now their enemy.

And that was infinitely worse, his mind raced with the implication of it. With Thanos, they knew his goal, they knew what he intended to do with the gauntlet once it was completed. He wanted to wipe out half the life in the Universe.

But Athena?

They had _no idea_ what she was going to do. To make matters worse…they truly didn't know what she was _capable_ of. Watching her fight that one Child of Thanos had shown him that much. She had been vague, talking to him about 'the Dark Days,' but she hadn't really TOLD him anything about what she was like during it. He got a feeling they were about to get front row seats to a reenactment though.

"Oh God," Captain America breathed.

"What do we do?" Black Widow called.

They all looked to Thor, the man was the only one who knew Athena better than all of them, but Thor was crouched where Thanos's hand was lying on the ground.

"Thor!" Captain America shouted.

Thor looked up at them, a string dangling in his hand with what looked like an old coin hanging from it.

"We're going to need some help."

To be continued...in...Courage!

A/N: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Are you screaming? I'M SCREAMING! Holy moly, I really hope this shocked you, I really do. I've been trying to drop hints about Athena's darkness and potential for a while. Sort of just like a 'well, little bit here, and if it never works, ok, it'll just be her backstory' and then INFINITY WARS gave me the opening I wasn't daring to hope for and BAM! I severely hope I have not just written myself into a corner with this twist, lol, but fingers crossed Infinity War part 2 works out ;)

Oh jeez, this is really going to be...bad. Like SO bad. In the movie Thanos erases half the universe, right? Pretty bad. But HERE? They are all STILL THERE! They're going to need some serious courage to take down the GODDESS of BATTLE, don't you think?

Especially considering they have _no idea_ what's coming next. They don't know Athena's next move. They don't know what she's fully capable of. Worse yet, _neither does Thor_ , he wasn't there during those days, he never saw what she actually became, only her family did...which means we may get the Olympians in the next story! :D I wonder how they'll react to the return of Dark Athena? }:D

But, even worse, Athena _knows_ them. I hinted at it when Thor first encountered Athena, the way she observes her enemy, studies their moves, tests them, catalogs their strengths and weaknesses so she can better face them in battle. But there's more to it than that, she studies her enemies so that she can use _her mind_ to beat them, if she's victorious it's because of a strategy NOT because she was more powerful than them. That's the gateway for her, power, that's what led to the corruption in her family, having power over others, BEING more powerful than others. Fighting those undead soldiers, she couldn't use a strategy against them, she HAD to be more powerful than them to stop them :( And that was the start of her 'dangerous path' :( The gray patches were a warning sign, the flashes of red she kept seeing in her reflection for her eyes, what we saw of Athena at the end, that's how she was during the Dark Days, gray, red-eyed, dark hair, she saw the signs and she knew she had to get away from places of power, to return to her family for help, to get back to her old self, to stabilize once more :( But she didn't have a chance, it was battle after battle, each with her needing to be more powerful as it went :( She knew the danger of using her sword on Thanos, that she might become more corrupt, might fight to stay on Earth and take back the planet, so she got Steve to promise they'd force her back to her family, because they are the only ones that would know how to contain her. Then she had hope when Thor came back, when she managed to put her sword away, that she'd be ok, that she could tell Thor they could go to Olympus and use her family's resources to find his people, give them a home there, that her family would help her sort herself out, but it never happened :( She didn't think, in either scenario, she'd be as far gone as she ended up being because the gauntlet made her THE most powerful, and it ended up corrupting her fully :( She tried, she really did, to use it for a good reason, bring Vision back, and maybe if the gray hadn't been appearing long before that moment, if she hadn't been struggling against that corruption already, she could have done it and thrown the gauntlet away, but it was too late. She tried to destroy the Mind Stone, but she was too late to stop herself from using it instead.

But, just because she was more of the mindset of brute-strength/power at the end, doesn't mean Athena hasn't been using her typical observation in battle before this. I can't imagine she WASN'T doing that around the Avengers }:) Athena's been watching, observing, getting to know all of them. She knows their strengths and weaknesses and how they plan things out, how they work together and where to prod at them. She's also someone that Thor loves, who the others respect and consider a friend now turned enemy and those are the hardest to fight because there's always that hesitation. They'll feel it, but Athena may not :( At least she had the forethought to know she may not come back from using the gauntlet and tried to give them every advantage against her in leaving her necklace behind };)

I know a lot of people were rooting for a Will/Elizabeth Pirates style wedding between Thor and Athena, but Athena has been heading in a direction this entire story that doesn't put her in the right mind-frame to do that. She has been falling into a pattern of sort of tunnel vision when it comes to battle, she sees/hears almost nothing but the battle. If Thor even tried, she might not even notice he was doing it :( He was lucky his entrance was so epic or Athena may really have not even realized he was back :(

Just two more quick notes, first is that I'm going to be posting the one-shot of Thor's time on Olympus near early December, a midway point between the end of this story and when Avengers 4 comes out in theaters ;) And the next movie-story I'll be posting is going to be Captain America and Olivia's version of the Avengers in hopefully no more than a week ;)

Finally, I really have to say thank you guys SO much! Really, I give each and every reader/reviewer/favoriter/follower/ko-fi giver/anythinger a virtual hug because you guys are amazing :) I write for you guys and I'm just so touched that you all liked the story and am truly thankful that you're enjoying Athena and Thor :) I'll do my very best to keep it up in the future, because you guys most definitely deserve it. I love you all :')

Some notes on reviews...

Well, they definitely stopped Thanos and his finger snap...but they may have just made everything worse for it }:)

Athena's technically still there...just sort of went off the deep end. The sword certainly didn't help her resist the corrupting power of power itself in the gauntlet :( Now we just have to worry about how the Olympians will react to this O.O

Athena has slowly been fighting against the corruption that first took her family all those years ago :( The gray was a warning sign to her of it coming back and that she needed to get away from people she could have power over to recover :( Sadly the battles only fueled those negative emotions and made her unable to fight the power of the gauntlet :(

I could see Wonder Woman's moments there yup :) Athena will very much be struggling with so much more in the next story };) But we'll get some sort of family reunion in the next story, whether it'll be a good thing or bad remains to be seen };)

It definitely went through in a very, VERY bad way for Athena yup :(


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